Jewish sources in Leningrad repeated today their denials of reports by Tass, the Soviet news agency, that the Jewish prisoners on trial had confessed to anti-Soviet crimes and asked for mercy. The sources said that a statement attributed to defendant Lassal Kaminsky–“I have committed crimes and deserve punishment”–had never been uttered by him, but by a defense attorney pleading for mitigation of charges. The official Soviet report on the proceedings omitted all the final statements of the accused except for the alleged Kaminsky remark. The Soviet press continues to pay very little attention to the trial, with the exception of Leningradskaya Pravda (Leningrad Truth), which contends that “the accused invited Israel to help them hijack a Soviet aircraft but the Israelis refused because they were at the time engaged in a campaign against hijackings.” Jewish sources retorted: “It seems Israel can never do right. When it says nothing it is also at fault, and its silence is interpreted as a wicked hypocrisy–fighting hijacking on one hand and supporting it on the other.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
