Allon: Day of Shame at the UN

Foreign Minister Yigal Allon met with foreign envoys today to convey the Israel government’s sense of concern over Yasir Arafat’s speech in the General Assembly yesterday and its disgust at the UN for providing a platform “for calls to battle and to wars of annihilation.” The real aim of the Palestine Liberation Organization is the liquidation of Israel and the voice of Arafat, its leader “was and remains the voice of indiscriminate terror,” Allon said in a statement to ambassadors who were summoned to the Foreign Ministry.

“The day on which the leader of the terrorist organization appeared upon the rostrum of the General Assembly was a dark day of shame for the UN,” Allon declared. “The UN, which in its origin was meant to be a platform for peace, has become a platform for calls to battle and to wars of annihilation A combination of enmity, hypocricy, appeasement and surrender to blackmail has made it such,” he said.

Allon warned the envoys, “Whoever deludes himself into thinking that to provide a political, platform, such as the General Assembly, would moderate the positions of the PLO, must recognize his grave error.” He charged that the General Assembly’s decision of Oct. 14 to invite the PLO led to the extremism at Rabat which Vin turn fed the extremism and hatred of Arafat’s speech.” Allon affirmed “In exercise of its natural right to survival, Israel will neither recognize nor negotiate with terrorist organizations that seek its destruction. In exercise of its fundamental right of self-defense, it will fight these armed gangs to the bitter end by every means it sees fit.”

A THREAT TO ISRAEL’S EXISTENCE

Premier Yitzhak Rabin said last night that PLO chief Yasir Arafat’s speech to the UN General Assembly yesterday only confirmed the PLO’s denial of the Jews right to be a nation. Addressing an American Jewish women’s group here, he said the PLO can be regarded only as “a threat to our existence.”

Observers here were encouraged by the initial reaction to Arafat’s speech in Western newspapers and among American officials. According to reports reaching here, the U.S. State Department and the American press generally saw through Arafat’s alleged “moderation” and offer of “olive branches” to the core of his speech which was a call for the dismantling of Israel.

The American attitude was expressed by the U.S. Ambassador to the UN, John Scali, who remained seated while most of the General Assembly rose to give Arafat a standing ovation when he entered. Scali and the British UN Ambassador, Ivor Richard, boycotted a reception for Arafat given by the Egyptian Mission at the UN last night.