An eight-page newspaper supplement in Spanish, titled “PLO: Victim or Executioner,” has been sent to more than 800 Spanish-language newspapers and radio and television stations in the United States by the American Jewish Committee, it was announced today by Jacob Kovadloff, AJC’s director of Latin American Affairs.
The supplement had been created and published in Argentina by the Center for Social Studies of the DAIA (the representative body of the Argentine Jewish community), and was distributed as a paid advertisement in the most important Argentinian daily newspapers.
“More than a million and a half copies were circulated throughout Argentina,” Kovadloff stated, and added that it was “an occurrence without precedent in Argentinian Jewish life.”
The purpose of the supplement was to counteract PLO propaganda in Argentina, and especially to answer criticisms of Israel’s recent actions in Lebanon voiced by a small group of intellectual politicians and leaders who, Kovadloff said, “do not reflect the feelings of the majority of the population, but who are important because they are prominent people.”
REPORT PUBLICATION WARMLY RECEIVED
The publication “has been received warmly, both in Argentina and the United States,” Kovadloff stated. He noted that each Argentinian newspaper permitted the use of its front-page logo on the first page of the supplements it carried, and declared that “this can be interpreted as implicit support for the contents.” He added:
“One factor that probably contributed to the acceptance is Argentina’s sensitivity to international public opinion concerning charges of human rights violations and to terrorist and guerrilla actions that have tended to destabilize the country.”
On the other hand, he pointed out, “less than two weeks after publication of the supplement, Argentina gave ‘diplomatic status’ recognition to the Arab League.” The League had had on office in Argentina for more than 30 years, but had never been granted this status. Kovadloff explained this by saying:
“This recognition took place on October 13, 1982, two weeks before the UN General Assembly voted on the Falkland Islands (Malvinas) issue, and was an obvious attempt to ensure the maximum Arab votes for Argentina.”
The eight-page supplement contained a variety of articles and pictures illustrating the terrorist nature of the PLO, its close links with other terrorist movements around the world, its declared intent to destroy the State of Israel, and its attempt to inject its influence into the democratic countries of the world.
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