Gianfranco Bertoli, an Italian anarchist arrested in Milan last week for throwing a grenade that killed one person and injured more than 40. spent two years on an Israeli kibbutz as a volunteer, it was disclosed here. The members of Kibbutz Karmiya, a Mapam Kibbutz in the Gaza Strip, had no idea that he was a fugitive from Italian police who had entered Israel under a false name with a stolen passport.
Italy, meanwhile has asked police agencies in Israel, France, Switzerland and Britain for help in finding out whether Bertoli’s act was part of an international conspiracy to create disorder in Italy. A 35-year-old Arab believed to be from Yemen, was arrested in Venice Saturday on suspicion of being linked in the alleged plot.
According to Israeli officials, Bertoli, 40, arrived in the country two years ago and was directed to Karmiya by a central office that directs all volunteers from abroad to kibbutzim. The kibbutzim are selected without regard to their political affiliations. The officials said that Bertoli carried a valid passport and that he was never suspected or questioned because there was no Interpol bulletin out for a man of his description.
He was known at Kibbutz Karmiya as Massimo Magari. He told the members that he left home because his parents were separated and his girl friend had left him. He spoke little of the past and was apparently well-liked by many of the kibbutz members. When his one-year volunteer term expired he signed up for a second year, saying “I love the kibbutz way of life.”
Mrs. Elisabeth Trepper, wife of World War II master spy. Leopold Trepper, has been Issued a visa for travel in the United States, the Trepper Defense Committee in Copenhagen disclosed today. A committee spokesman said she planned to go to the U.S. next month to campaign on her husband’s behalf during the visit of Soviet Communist Party Secretary Leonid I. Brezhnev. Trepper, who lives in Warsaw has been refused an exit visa by Polish authorities.
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.
