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British Jews Say Britain Failed to Denounce Jordan’s Terrorism

October 22, 1953
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The presidents of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and of the Anglo-Jewish Association today made statements expressing the deep concern of the Anglo-Jewish community over the violence along the Israel-Jordan border but took exception to the British government’s condemnation of Israel while at the same time it failed to take into consideration the continuous murder of Israelis by Arabs from Jordan over the last three years.

Addressing a meeting of the Board, Dr. Abraham Cohen pointed out that the British Foreign Office’s statement was “concerned with only the incidents of the past week. It made no allusion to the murder of an Israeli settler in his bed Sunday night and the murder of a mother and two children the following night, making a total of 421 deaths at the hands of Jordanians in three years. ” He added: “We hope the powers concerned will see that the outrages are stopped and peace is maintained in the Middle East and will address their admonitions and exert their influence upon all the governments involved to achieve that end. “

Ewen Montagu of the AJA welcomed the decision of the Western Powers to take the problem of Israel-Arab tensions to the United Nations Security Council. He pointed out that the Mixed Armistice Commission found Jordan guilty of 159 violations and Israel of 25 violations in a 12-month period ending last June. He insisted that a solution must be found to provide justice for all parties concerned in the light of the tri-partite declaration of May, 1950, which guarantees existing borders in the Middle East.

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