News media in Cairo have taken a cue from Polish and East German commentators and are blaming alleged “Zionist” machinations in Czechoslovakia for the Soviet-led Warsaw Pact invasion and occupation of that country, according to reports reaching here. A Cairo radio broadcast said that “had it not been for the dangerous and destructive role played in recent months by counter-revolutionaries led by world Zionism, matters would not have developed to such a serious point.” The broadcast singled out Czech deputy premier Cestmir Cisar, who is of Jewish origin, as a “leader of the fanatical Zionists.”
The Daily Telegraph said in a dispatch from Beirut today that Arab reaction to the invasion of Czechoslovakia has been strongly conditioned by the Arabs’ sense of obligation to Russia for supporting them against Israel. Nevertheless, “the Russian image so assiduously cultivated as part of Moscow’s diplomatic offensive in the region has suffered great damage,” the newspaper reported. It noted that the only governments that have directly defended Moscow’s actions are the pro-Russian regimes in Iraq, Syria, Algeria and Southern Yemen.
The Financial Times, however, reported today that the strongest backing for Soviet intervention in Czechoslovakia had come from Egypt. In justifying Russia’s action, the Cairo news media have leaped on the anti-Semitic bandwagon which was mobilized in reaction to liberalization in Poland and which, British Jews fear, may soon be used in Czechoslovakia too,” the paper reported.
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