Foreign Minister Abba Eban said in the Knesset today that there was a “considerable echo in world opinion” against the trial of Jews in the Soviet Union. He said there have been “important expressions by governments, parliaments, public organizations and personalities of international repute” against Soviet violations of human rights and the treatment of Russian Jews. Eban spoke in reply to a question by Knesset member Moshe Carmel who wanted to know what political and diplomatic action Israel bas taken to mobilize world opinion in defense of Russian Jewry. The Foreign Minister said. “I shall shortly avail myself of an opportunity to inform the House of the actions taken and of the considerable echo in world public opinion.” He expressed hope that “this world reaction is but the beginning of an awakening of enlightened humanity against an ineffectual attempt to deprive a great Jewish community of its human rights.”
Eban spoke in the Knesset as a group of 20 Jews from the Soviet Union ended an eight-day vigil of prayer and fasting at the Walling Wall which they began on Dec. 15, the day the Leningrad trial opened.
The vigil brought scores of thousands of Israelis to the Walling Wall compound. The crowd last night was estimated at 25,000 and this morning at 10,000. The demonstrators had pledged to fast until the Leningrad trial ended. It was adjourned today. Several hours earlier, four women fasters fainted from exhaustion. Three were taken to Hadassah Hospital for treatment. An Israeli student was hospitalized this morning for injuries he received in a fistfight with a guard at United Nations headquarters here. A UN officer said he was injured by a student. The students claimed he hurt himself accidentally. They were part of a delegation of the Gahal faction which marched on the UN with a petition protesting the Leningrad trial addressed to Secretary General U Thant. Three students were permitted to enter the compound to deliver the petition.
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