The Israel Government today expressed its “revulsion and horror” at the murderous attack on an Israeli bus in the Negev by a gang of Jordanians who killed 11 men, women and children and wounded three others in an ambush in a mountainous section of the desert road between Eilath and Beersheba earlier in the day.
A military spokesman charged that an “organized Arab force” had carried out the “quasi-military operation” and added that the Israel Government “regards this attack as a war-like act, responsibility for which falls squarely on the government from whose territory this unit of murderers was sent forth across the border into Israeli territory to carry out this dastardly deed.
“The series of wanton acts of hostility by the neighboring Arab states against Israel has reached a new climax in this latest outrage,” the Israel spokesman continued. “The Israel Government will take all the necessary measures within its power to insure that Israel citizens’ blood will not be shed with impunity. All steps will be taken to safeguard the security of travellers along Negev roads and for unhindered continuation of movement.
“The deepest sympathy of the Israel people goes out to the families of the victims of this massacre,” the spokesman concluded.
(In Washington, Israel Minister Plenipotentiary Reuven Shiloah today called upon Acting Assistant Secretary of State John Jernegan and brought to his attention the Arab massacre of the 11 Israelis in the Negev as well as the Syrian assault on Israeli fishing boats on Lake Tiberias. The State Department is awaiting details of the Negev ambush and is closely observing the continuing friction on Lake Tiberias, State Department sources said.)
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