Jewish and non-Jewish leaders in this country and abroad denounced the terrorist action in Maalot and demanded international action to end terrorist activities. Rabbi Israel Miller, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, noted that Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger “eloquently expressed our country’s revulsion” at the seizure of 90 children, and added: “But it is not enough to condemn Arab terrorists. The government of Lebanon which gives safe haven to the terrorists must liquidate all terrorist activities launched from its territory. If Lebanon refuses to do so, it must face the quarantine of civilized society.”
Mrs. Faye Schenk, chairman of the Executive of the American Zionist Federation, declared: “When, on April 24, the Security Council one-sidedly condemned Israel for retaliating against the massacre of unarmed people in Kiryat Shemona without mentioning the terrorist carnage, it was tantamount to the issuance of an open license to the terrorist bands to commit repeated atrocities as they have now done again in Maalot. There can be no peace in the Middle East until the United Nations takes appropriate and decisive action against these terrorists who find safe haven in Lebanon.”
David M. Blumberg, president of B’nai B’rith, said in Washington that an Arab-Israeli peace settlement “would be meaningless” until terrorism is ended. “It is international banditry, and one awaits some decisive action by the UN Security Council–so quick to censure Israel in the past.” He noted that the Arab states that have been “hospitable” to terrorists “are as responsible as the murdering gunmen” that held the 90 children.
In Ottawa, Mitchell Sharp, Canadian Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs, issued a statement at a press conference saying: “The holding of 90 innocent Israeli schoolchildren as hostages is a cowardly and degrading act. I can only condemn this repulsive deed which at this time is also an attempt to impede progress towards negotiations and peace. On behalf of the Canadian government I wish to express my deepest sympathies to the parents of these children.” Statements of strong condemnations were also issued by Prime Minister Pierre Elliot Trudeau; Robert Stanfield, chief of the Conservative Party; and David Lewis, leader of the New Democratic Party.
THOUSANDS PROTEST AGAINST LEBANON
This afternoon more than 1000 students from Jewish day schools and colleges and high schools in the New York metropolitan area and adults from various Jewish organizations held a prayer vigil and demonstration of concern in front of the Lebanese Consulate. They marched in front of the building chanting, “Israel has a right to live,” “Children have a right to live,” and “Stop Arab terrorism.” In Washington, several hundred people marched in front of the Lebanese Embassy in an action mobilized by the Greater Washington Jewish Community Council. In Montreal under a drizzling rain 1500 Jews gathered in Dominion Square to condemn the barbaric act in Maalot. Ninety children bearing on their chests the inscription, “I Am A Hostage,” paraded in the square while a boy and a girl read a statement in French and English expressing the deep sorrow of the Jewish children in Montreal for the tragedy.
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