President Carter, in a message to Premier Menachem Begin of Israel, stated that the “cowardly and senseless attack” on innocent civilians in Israel was “a brutal act of terrorism” which “will surely be met with universal revulsion by all men of conscience.”
In making public the message from Carter to Begin, the White House said it was delivered yesterday by U.S. Ambassador to Israel, Samuel Lewis. This message was in addition, the White House said, to the President’s statement to the public that expressed his “deep shock” over the event.
The terrorist attack was “an outrageous act of lawlessness and senseless brutality,” Carter’s statement said. “Criminal acts such as this advance no cause or political belief. They inspire only revulsion and a lack of respect for innocent human life.”
In his personal message to Begin, Carter said: “I offer you the condolences and deep sympathy of myself and all the American people who shore your sorrow. Please give my personal sympathy to the families of the many who died and to those who were wounded. I am particularly distressed that an event such as this should occur just as you were preparing to deport on your mission of peace. I continue to look forward to talking to you soon and relaying to you in person the deep emotion which this event has aroused in this country.”
‘MURDER THAT CANNOT BE JUSTIFIED’
Secretary of State Cyrus Vance, in a message made public today at the State Department, condemned the “outrageous attack” by the terrorists “as murder that cannot be justified.” He said, “the perpetrators should receive the punishment they deserve. I offer my condolences for this tragic loss of life. We oppose terrorism in all its forms and this incident only serves our determination to combat terrorism with every means at our disposal.”
The Israeli Embassy stated that the tragedy, for which the EI Fatah has taken credit, “proves our position of not agreeing to withdrawal from Judea, Samaria and Gaza.” Israeli spokesman Avi Pazner said Israel remaining in those three areas “is the only way that we can have a degree of control over situations that otherwise might produce terrorist attacks on a daily basis like that we witnessed yesterday.”
Andrew Young, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, expressed hope that Israel would not automatically retaliate against yesterday’s terrorist assault. Appearing on NBC-TV’s “Meet the Press,” the envoy said: “I would hope that Prime Minister Begin’s visit coming here would certainly precede any decisions that would escalate the tensions.” He added: “I would ask anybody to consider the consequences of violence, even retaliatory violence.” But, he observed, people in a life and death situation such as the Israelis were in, had to make those decisions for themselves.
Meanwhile, 18 Soviet Jews, along with Nobel Peace Prize winner Andrei Sakharov, demonstrated today in Moscow against the terrorist atrocity in Israel. The demonstrators, according to the Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry, carried signs stating that the Kremlin was encouraging Arafat to commit these atrocities.
In New York, Rabbi Alexander Schindler, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said, this newest terrorist outrage “underscores once again” that to give the Palestinians the right of self-determination as President Sadat demands, amounts to legitimizing the terrorists’ vow to destroy the Jewish State. The latest bloodbath makes a mockery of Sadat’s “blithe assurances that he will guarantee Israel’s security and how dangerous are the demands that Israel surrender territories that have been used by her enemies four times in 30 years to attack in an effort to destroy her,” Schindler said.
Theodore R. Mann, chairman of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council, said that “the murderous assault” by the terrorists “must evoke from all decent, sane persons the horror and revulsion expressed by President Carter and Secretary of State Vance. The PLO faction that claimed responsibility for the atrocity clearly seeks Israel’s destruction, not peace. For Israel to agree to give them a staging area for their murderous attacks 10 miles from Tel Aviv is obviously impossible.”
(Other Jewish leaders in the U.S. also expressed outrage at this latest tragedy. Their statements will be in Tuesday’s Bulletin.)
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
