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Four Americans Demonstrate Against Nigerian President Visiting Israel

November 4, 1971
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Four young persons with American passports, including a girl, have been detained at Lydda Airport since yesterday after attempting to demonstrate against President Yakubu Gowan of Nigeria who arrived here with three other African presidents on an official visit. The four were described by police as members of the Jewish Defense League although their demonstration was reportedly over the Nigerian massacre of Biafrans during the recent civil war. The four detainees held tourist visas.

Israel Yeshayahu, secretary general of the Israel Labor Party, described the JDL last night as “a negative phenomenon that bodes ill and has to be uprooted before it gets out of hand.” He was commenting on demonstrations in East Jerusalem earlier this week by JDL members who declared that they would ensure the safety of Jews going to the Western Wail. He told an audience in Ramat Gan that attempts by such bodies as the JDL to assume police functions was a threat to democratic and legal institutions. The JDLers were ousted from East Jerusalem by police after they threatened retaliation against Old City Arabs for a bomb explosion in an alley leading to the Western Wail last month.

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