The current anti-Israel press campaign here has reached a new peak with the publication of a letter in the Social Democratic newspaper Ethnos from the “secretary of the Greek Community of Jerusalem” charging the Israel Government with mistreating Greeks living in the Jewish state. Ethnos is one of the leaders of the press campaign against the Jewish state.
The letter, which has brought bitter criticism from Jewish circles here, accuses the Israel Government of creating difficulties for Greeks who left Palestine during the war and now wish to return. It demanded the return of Greek-owned property administered by the Israel Government, and insisted upon reparations from Israel for damage suffered by Greek property owners during the hostilities.
The Israel consulate here has issued a reply to the letter asserting that the authors of it are Greeks living in Arab countries and in the Old City of Jerusalem, and pointing out that Greeks living in the new city have never been molested by the Israelis. In addition, the consulate reply stated, Israel has just agreed to a Greek Government request to readmit some 300 Greeks who fled during the war.
The consulate also points out that Greek-owned property which was abandoned in the war has been administered by the government just as heirless and Nazi-confiscated Jewish property in Greece has been administered by the Greek Government pending its return to the Jews. Israel has already begun to return Greek-owned property abandoned by its owners.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
