The special correspondent of the Israel Broadcasting Service in Istanbul reported this evening that a break in the search for kidnaped Israel Consul General Ephraim Elrom was expected shortly. Two of his abductors, picked up last night, were being grilled, and it was hoped they will supply clues to the prisoner’s whereabouts. There was no word late this afternoon as to the fate of Elrom, who was kidnaped Monday by a Turkish terrorist group. The Turkish People’s Liberation Army was holding Elrom as hostage for “all revolutionary guerrillas under detention,” and warned they would execute the Israeli official by 11 a.m. (EST) if their brethren were not released. The deadline came and went with no further news about his fate. Meanwhile, the Turkish government said it was seeking to enact a law making kidnaping a capital offense. Yesterday, an unidentified messenger delivered a handwritten note to Elrom’s wife in which the diplomat stated that “I am OK. Do not worry.”
The Turkish military governorship has relented and has relented and has allowed the publication of Mrs. Elsa Elrom’s appeal to the kidnapers for her husband’s freedom. It was played on Turkish radio and television this afternoon. The military governor of the Istanbul area stated in an interview today that he was convinced that Elrom would be found alive, contending that no Turk could be cowardly enough to injure a diplomat who is a guest in Turkey and is under the protection of her hospitality. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency learned from reliable sources here that the Deputy Director General of the Foreign Ministry, Moshe Sasson, who flew to Ankara last night, was sent there in order to have a senior Israeli official on the spot in case instant decisions have to be taken in a crisis situation. Sasson carries no exchange offers whatsoever it was understood. It also learned that at the Cabinet’s extra-ordinary meeting Tuesday on the kidnaping, the general trend of opinion emerged that Israel should not even make the faintest suggestion of a deal with the abductors. The opinion was voiced that in previous cases of hijacking, Israel had consistently condemned any yielding to blackmail. Therefore, what is good for foreigners must be good for Israelis too, they concluded.
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