Israel’s largest daily, Maariv, denounced today as “loathsome” a statement by a former commander of United Nations peace-keeping forces that Israeli girls were detached from military duty to “entertain” members of U.N. commissions visiting Israel in connection with armistice arrangements. Maj. Gen. Carl von Horn made the charge in a book published Monday in Stockholm dealing with his career as commander for such operations in Israel, the Congo and Yemen.
Maariv said editorially that it found “especially loathsome” Gen. von Horn’s charge that Israel had used the girls to conduct “between-sheets diplomacy.” By using such statements, Maariv declared, Gen. von Horn “has proved that he may have a certain talent for writing cheap novels.” The editorial added that it was “doubtful, however, if he succeeded in showing himself as a decent man.”
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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.