“The military clash of last night must be viewed against a background of mounting Egyptian military pressure against Israel, synchronized with a vicious propaganda campaign which has in recent weeks reached the peak of hysteria,” a spokesman for the Israel delegation at the United Nations said today in a statement issued here.
“In a patent attempt to divert Egyptian and general Arab public opinion from her internal and external problems, the Egyptian military dictatorship during the past six months has stepped up its policy of military, political and propaganda aggression against Israel,” the statement declared.
“The incursion into Israel territory by Egyptian military units and armed bands on campaigns of murder and sabotage was continued last night when an Egyptian army unit crossed the Israel border near Gaza. It encountered the resistance of a strong Israel defense patrol, and in the ensuing battle the Egyptian troops were chased back across the frontier with the Israel patrol in pursuit. Casualties were inflicted on the Egyptian forces and there were casualties among the Israel patrol.
“The continuous Egyptian military aggressive campaign of the last few months, which has resulted in the killing or wounding of a mounting number of Israeli men and women and in widespread damage to property through Egyptian sabotage operations, has been accompanied by an inflammatory political campaign in Egypt, highlighted by the Egyptian seizure of the Israel vessel Bat-Galim and its crew in the Suez Canal on 28 September 1954 and by the savage hanging of two Jews in Cairo on 31 January 1955.
CITES EGYPTIAN VIOLATIONS; QUOTES ANTI-ISRAEL THREATS
“Since September 1954, Egyptian aggression has been condemned on no less than 27 occasions by the Mixed Armistice Commission. The Egyptian campaign was marked by violent threats to Israel in the Egyptian press and radio whose main theme is characterized by a Cairo broadcast on January 31, 1955 declaring, ‘we will not rest until Israel vanishes from existence.’ Major Saleh Salem, the Egyptian Minister of National Guidance, said in a press statement published on January 28, 1955, ‘Even if Israel should consist only of Tel Aviv, we should never put up with that.’
The gravely deteriorating situation following these persistent Egyptian attacks has engaged the attention of the Mixed Armistice Commission, the Chief of staff of the United Nations Truce Supervision Organization, Major-General E. L. M. Burns and of governments concerned with stability in the Middle East. The Egyptian Junta has spurned the Security Council decision regarding freedom of passage through the Suez Canal and resolutions of the Mixed Armistice Commission calling on Egypt to curb its aggression.
“On numerous occasions Egyptian forces have crossed the border to violate Israel’s territory. Thus, on January 21, an Egyptian Army Unit drove up to the Armistice line and took up firing positions. Part of this unit crossed the line and attacked an Israel military post manned by three soldiers of whom one was killed and the two others wounded. The Egyptians retreated only on the approach of Israel reinforcements. The Israel-Egypt Armistice Commission which met on January 24, condemned Egypt for this attack which it described as ‘an aggressive action carried out by a unit of the Egyptian Army in flagrant violation of the General Armistice Agreement.”
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