Editor Charges Greek Travellers Caused Anti-jewish Discrimination

(Jewish Dally Bulletin)

Commenting on charges made by Prof. Leo. S. Honor of the Teachers’ Institute of the Jewish Theological Seminary that he and other American Jewish passengers aboard the steamer Sinaia were subjected to the discriminations of Greek port authorities and were refused permission to land at Piraeus, George Laskaris, editor of “Progress,” a Greek weekly published in Detroit, in a statement to a representative of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, placed the blame on a group of American Greeks who claim affiliation with the Ku Klux Klan.

Mr. Laskaris explained that the steamer Sinaia had been chartered by 600 American Greeks who belong to the AHEPA, or American Hellenic Educational Progressive Association, who claim to be a branch of the Ku Klux Klan. Mr. Laskaris subscribed to the views of A. C. Macheras, consul-general of Greece in New York, who declared in his statement to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that Greece does not discriminate against its Jewish subjects. He expressed the belief that the members of AHEPA incited port authorities against the Jewish passengers, and declared that the Government of Greece would not only discourage such action, but would punish offenders if informed about the discriminations.

“I am certain that it was not Greek law that discriminated against Professor Honor and his fellow companions, but the group of holier than thou’ American Greeks who are so anxious to shout their superiority wherever they go, that the only method they could find at their disposal was to discriminate against Jews,” Mr. Laskaris declared.