Rep. Victor L. Anfuso of New York proposed tonight that Israel invite countries with “an honest interest” in Adolf Eichmann to send legal representatives to participate in the trial and thus give it “an international atmosphere appropriate for the trial of one guilty against all humanity.”
The Congressman told the 73rd annual convention of the Order Brith Abraham that Israel “should not dirty its hand by sentence or taking any part in meting out punishment” to Eichmann but should, after he is committed, return him “to the country of his origin or birth for such action as this country may see fit to take.”
(Israel’s right to try Eichmann rests on firm legal as well as moral grounds, according to a study by the American Jewish Congress published today. The analysis cites precedents in international law and in American Jurisprudence supporting Israel’s claim to Jurisdiction. The study notes that international law has no provisions governing Jurisdiction by individual nations in criminal cases. In certain crimes, such as piracy, all nations are considered to be equally affronted and any state acquiring physical custody of the accused may try him, it is noted.
(“The genocidal acts of which Eichmann is accused would seem to comprise no less universal a crime under international law than piracy.” the report asserts.)
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