Foreign Minister Yigal Allon today sharply condemned Jewish Defense League leader Meir Kahane’s threats of violence against Soviet diplomats in the U.S. and Europe. Kahane made the threats at a Tel Aviv press conference yesterday when he spoke of “kidnapping and possibly worse” against Soviet diplomats if the U.S. did not take a tougher line on behalf of Soviet Jews. Kahane appeared with Soviet immigrant activists Silva Zalmanson and Alexander Tiemkin, who endorsed his threats.
In his statement today, Allon said such threats and action were inadmissible in themselves and severely harmful for the cause of Soviet Jewry.
“Israel and the Jewish people have campaigned and will continue to campaign consistently for the release of ‘Prisoners of Zion’ in the USSR, for the cessation of harassment of Zionist activists and for the free right of emigration for any Jews seeking it.” Allon declared. He warned that Kahane’s threats would both prejudice that campaign and alienate from it the various non-Jewish bodies that had become involved in the struggles of Soviet Jewry.
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