Israel Assails Soviet Invasion As ‘outrageous Violation’ of UN Charter

The Israel Government denounced today the Soviet bloc action against Czechoslovakia as “an outrageous violation of the charter of the United Nations” and expressed “shock at the invasion and military control of the Czechoslovak Republic.” The statement was issued after a special Cabinet meeting which was held late last night in Tel Aviv.

The denunciation added that “the sanctified principles of political independence and territorial integrity, peaceful co-existence, non-intervention in the internal affairs of states, the right of every state – small or large – to security and freedom – the principles on which relations between states are based have been arbitrarily trampled upon.”

The statement noted that Israel “has more than once confronted aggression and threats to her independence and the Government voices its repugnance at this act of invasion which threatens the fabric of the family of nations.” The statement also declared that “the participation of German troops in the invasion and occupation – this time as part of the forces of the Warsaw Pact – arouses in us particularly terrible memories. The Government of Israel joins with all peace-loving and freedom-loving nations of the world in the demand to put an end to the invasion and to restore the independence and sovereignty of the Republic of Czechoslovakia.”

The Israeli press and most political parties condemned the invasion. Prime Minister Eshkol’s Israel Labor party expressed “horror and shock” and compared the Soviet takeover with the Nazi invasion of 1938. The leftwing Mapam said the “brutal trampling of freedom” in Czechoslovakia “shows the world who the real imperialists are.” The Jerusalem Post published an editorial cartoon today, showing a hammer-and-sickle marked boot following a footstep marked with a swastika over the map of Czechoslovakia.