American Jewish leaders expressed shock and dismay today over the tragic events in Munich. David Rivlin, Israeli Consul General, called on all nations to put an end to the syndrome of extortion, hijacking and bloodshed of innocent people which he said was due to indifference and to “nations and organizations that encourage blackmailers to continue acts of crime.” In a telegram to President Nixon, Mrs. Max Matzkin, president of Hadassah, said that Hadassah urged that he recall the US Olympic team “to protest the barbaric action of Arab terrorists against the Israeli participants.” Mrs. Eleanor Marvin, president of the National Council of Jewish Women said “the deliberate selection of innocent Israeli athletes as the victims of Arab guerrilla attacks is a heinous act of atrocity.”
Judah J. Shapiro, president of the Labor Zionist Alliance, suggested that everyone individually engage in some personal act of mourning on the day of the funeral of the Munich victims. The Zionist Organization of America, said the tragedy at Munich might have been averted if an international anti-hijacking treaty had been in existence. Harold Ostroff, Workmen’s Circle president, cabled the International Olympic Committee urging that “all sports stadia around the world dim their lights and hold brief memorial services before games in tribute to the slain Israeli Olympic members.”
Throughout the New York area and across the country memorial services were held today, and others scheduled tomorrow, for the slain Israeli athletes. A joint memorial service was held at the Jewish Agency building by the American Zionist Federation and the American Section of the World Zionist Organization. Traffic was halted this morning in the vicinity of the B’nai B’rith building in New York where the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and District 1 B’nai B’rith held public memorial services outside their headquarters. A special memorial service was also conducted at the Union of American Hebrew Congregations’ House of Living Judaism Chapel.
Christian and Jewish leaders will conduct a special memorial meeting tomorrow at Congregation Kehilath Jeshurun in New York. In Washington, a community-wide memorial meeting will be held at the Lincoln Memorial at noontime tomorrow. Philip M, Klutznick, official of the Jewish United Fund of Metropolitan Chicago urged men of peace throughout the world to condemn the terrorist carnage in Munich.
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.
