Israeli official circles here are pleased at the British government’s decision to crack down on Iraqi diplomats suspected of being involved in terrorist activities. Britain has expelled II Iraqis thought to have links with the spate of killings in London over the past two years. Although all the victims have been Arabs, some of the incidents sprang from differences over the Arab-Israeli conflict. “We are pleased at the elimination of a potential danger to ourselves as well,” an Israeli diplomat said.
However, it is too soon to say that the action against the Iraqis will put an end to Arab terrorism in London. This was illustrated last Friday when a Palestinian woman threw a hand grenade at the car of the Iraqi Ambassador, who was preparing to return to Baghdad. The Ambassador was not in the car at the time.
The action may have been an attempt to revenge the death in January of Said Hammami, the London representative of the Palestine Liberation Organization. He is believed to have been killed by the Iraqi-based “Black June” Palestinian movement, headed by Sabri al-Banna, alias “Abu Nidal.” The Libyans, too, have long been suspected of supplying passports and arms to gunmen.
In addition, the Iraqis are believed to have permitted terrorists in Britain and Europe to transmit coded messages over the embassy radio link. Since the Lebanese civil war, London has replaced Beirut as the Arab states’ main diplomatic meeting place. Here exiles plot against their own countries, and the individual states conspire against each other.
Not being a police state, like their own countries, Arab gunmen have been able to fly in and out of Britain and pick off their victims with relative ease in London’s crowded streets. They have now been warned, though, that the shooting has to stop.
Meanwhile, in Paris yesterday, an Arab-speaking terrorist who shot his way into the Iraqi Embassy surrendered to police after holding eight hostages for 8-1/2 hours. As he was being led away Iraqi security men opened fire, and one policeman and one Iraqi were killed in the subsequent shootout. According to Arab sources, the raid was motivated by a dispute between Iraq and PLO leader Yasir Arafat.
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.
