? Government Charges Rabbi Korff with “illegal Possession of Arms and Ammunition”

Rabbi Baruch Korff, who was arrested Saturday just before leaving on a flight to London to drop Sternist leaflets over the British capital, will be charged with the “possession of pamphlets of foreign origin likely to ? the security of the country” and “illegal possession of arms and ammunition.” this was made known today by the examining magistrate in charge of the case.

The French police today revealed the name of another of the 17 persons rounded ? over the week-end. He is Jacques Martinsky, who was arrested last June when anti-British leaflets were found in his hotel room, but was subsequently released. It was Martinsky who received the fire extinguishers which were used in making the six bombs ellegedly found in a raid on a house near the Paris abattoirs.

From information available here, it appears that the “bombs” were not designed to cause injury to persons in the area where they were dropped, but were so-called ? bombs, which contain a mild charge of explosives and which scatter leaflets over a wide area when they explode. (The Herald-Tribune Paris correspondent, who was the only reporter present when Korff was arrested, said today that yesterday’s report that six bombs had been found was inaccurate. Police in a neighboring house, using field glasses, had seen the bombs being constructed, but when they raided the building under surveillance the bombs had disappeared.

The “Diaspora Headquarters” of the Irgun, which is situated in Paris, issued a statement today denying that there has been a split in the Irgun command or that ?nent members have resigned. The announcement added that “the Irgun will continue its struggle for the liberation of all of Palestine and against attempts to confine the Jewish people in a near ghetto to be glorified by the name of state.”

The American Embassy said today that it had not yet received any information ?terning the arrest of Korff, his secretary, and the plane’s pilot, Reginald Gilbert. the embassy stated that the two men were apparently American citizens. (The Herald ?une said that Gilbert had informed the police of the plan, and had been acting for ? from the time he was first approached by Korff.)

(A Reuter dispatch from Paris tonight quoted “well informed quarters” there as ?ing that they believed that the Korff “plot” was a “propaganda stunt” to coincide ? the landing of the Exodus deportees in Hamburg. These quarters also believe that ? affair was a personal venture of Korff, rather than an operation of the Stern ?p. A source close to police headquarters also expressed surprise that only one American newspaperman should have been at the remote field from which Korff took off, ? Router dispatch added.)