Chaim Herzog, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, sharply criticized today “certain Jewish and Israeli individuals who would have us believe that there has in fact been a change of attitude on the part of the PLO.” Addressing a luncheon gathering of the United Jewish Appeal at the Palmer House Hotel here, the Israeli envoy warned that this phenomenon “harbors within itself the seeds of potential discord and destruction.”
Noting that the PLO is still committed to the Palestine Covenant which calls for the destruction of the Jewish State, Herzog stated: “Here we have, believe it or not, the incredible prospect of certain Jews here and in Israel in effect advocating the elimination of three million Jews and bound by the doctrine of destruction and annihilation enunciated in the Palestine Covenant.”
Herzog said that he does not doubt the sincerity of those who seek to establish contacts with the PLO, but, he stressed, “it is high time that they realize that, insofar as the PLO meets with them, it does so in furtherance of a political propaganda offensive, and they are nothing more than an integral part of that offensive, wittingly or unwittingly.”
Addressing himself to the state of affairs at the United Nations. Herzog condemned the silence of the world organization in the face of “a massacre of Christians” in Uganda. Recalling how almost the entire General Assembly “rose in acclamation” to greet the “racist murderer” Idi Amin and how the Security Council was called upon to condemn Israel for the Entebbe rescue operation last July, Herzog declared:
“Now when tens of thousands of Africans are being slaughtered because of their religion, what does the Security Council do? Nothing, Just as it did nothing when 50,000 Lebanese were being slaughtered, 100,000 wounded and one million turned into refugees. Just as it did nothing when 500,000 Black Christians were being murdered by a racist regime in Sudan. Just as it does nothing when an entire nation, the Kurdish nation, is being extinguished by Iraqi forces.”
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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.
