Tekoah to U Thant: Attack on Beisan School Premeditated Murder, Blood-thirsty Design

Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s ambassador to the United Nations, called Secretary General U Thant this morning and drew his attention to the “further act of aggression of utmost gravity” in the two terror attacks on Beisan schools. Mr. Tekoah, in his conversation with Mr. Thant and in a letter sent at the same time to Security Council President Padma Bahadur Khatri of Nepal, called attention to the fact that this morning’s assault followed the ambush attack on a school bus near Avivim on May 22 and the rocket attack on Beisan two days ago. “It is clear from these attacks,” Mr. Tekoah stated in his letter and in his discussion with Mr. Thant, “that the murder of Israeli children is a premeditated objective of Arab terror warfare. The choice of the targets and execution of the attacks during the hours when children are on the way to school or in class, leaves no doubt about the blood-thirsty design.” In the ambush attack on the school bus, eight children and three adults were killed, and 20 other persons, mostly children, were injured. A spokesman for the UN said today that Mr. Thant had no immediate comment on this morning’s atrocity but repeated Mr. Thant’s standard reply to such events in the Middle East that “I deplore acts of violence on either side.” Mr. Tekoah’s letter included the statement by Israel’s Foreign Minister Abba Eban issued in Jerusalem following this morning’s attack.