Israel protested “vigorously and emphatically” to the United Nations today over the attempt by a Nigerian army officer serving with the United Nations Interim Force in Lebanon (UNIFIL) to smuggle weapons and explosives to Palestine Liberation Organization agents in Israel.
In a letter to UN Secretary General Kurt Wald-heim, Israel’s Ambassador to the UN, Yehuda Blum requested that “action be taken forthwith to prevent once and for all any recurrence of such acts which, you will surely agree, are in flagrant violation of UNIFIL’s peace-keeping mandate.” Blum stated in his letter, “As you are aware, this is not the first time that a soldier serving with UNIFIL has been caught red-handed while attempting to smuggle into Israel arms and explosives for the terrorist PLO. I am instructed to protest vigorously and emphatically against this repeated criminal abuse of a UN peace-keeping force to serve as a cover for cooperation with PLO terrorists despite assurances received from the UN to take action to prevent the recurrence of activities of this kind. The acts of terror carried out by PLO criminals against innocent civilians in Israel, whether successful or not, demonstrate the special gravity of such actions.”
Blum observed that “Anyone aiding and abetting the PLO in its activities aimed at indiscriminate mass murder of civilians bears a heavy responsibility particularly if he happens to be a member and a high ranking officer at that, of a UN force.”
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