Eighteen Jewish youths were sentenced to death today by a British military court on charges of participating in a terrorist attack on the Haifa railway workshops on June 17 during which nine Jews were killed. Four girls, found guilty of the same charges, were sentenced to life imprisonment.
Following pronouncement of the sentences, which were greeted by the defendants with the singing of Hatikvah, guards led them from the court. When they reached the courtyard one of the girls shouted: “Help, they are hurting me.” The other prisoners attempted to reach her, but were checked by the guards with whom they battled for sever al minutes before being subdued.
Several of the 22 are suffering from severe wounds as a result of the railway yards operation. One is missing an eye, others had one leg amputated and one girl has both arms in plaster casts. They were tried in absentia, having been sent back to the Acre prison after the trial opened on Monday, when they halted the proceedings by singing.
The sensational disclosure that Arabs and Armenians participated in the bombing of the King David Hotel in which government offices and British military headquarters were wrecked and 91 persons killed, was made last night when it was revealed that a military court in Jerusalem had sentenced an Arab to three years imprisonment and an Armenian to five years.
The two, Asis Mussa Aba Said and Karim Alan Chassu, were captured in a truck near the hotel shortly after the explosion. In the truck was a quantity of arms and explosives used in the blasting. Shortly after the incident, the Jewish underground movement, Irgun Zvai Leumi, accepted responsibility for its execution.
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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.
