Police arrested five members of the Jewish Defense League this afternoon after they seized the offices of the Hebrew University and the American Friends of the Hebrew. University in New York. A spokesman for the 14th Precinct Midtown South said the five were being booked but could not say immediately on what charges.
The Jewish Telegraphic Agency received a telephone call at about 2 p.m. from a person who identified himself as Dov Becker and said he was a member of the JDL. He said the five had seized the offices a half-hour earlier to demand the expulsion of all Arab students from the Hebrew University unless they sign a declaration recognizing Israel’s sovereignty over the “Land of Israel.”
Becker said the seven staff members present at the office left voluntarily after calling the police. He said the police had come but the JDL group threatened to smash the office if they tried to make arrests. The police spokesman told the JTA that the arrests were made without injury to anyone. He could not say whether the office was damaged.
Becker read a statement to the JTA which said that “Because there is overt Arab support for the Palestine Liberation Organization on the campus of the Hebrew University we are demanding that every Arab student must sign a declaration to the effect that he or she recognizes that the Land of Israel is Jewish and that the State of Israel is the State of the Jewish people. If they do not sign it, they must be expelled.”
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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.
