The Israel Government today termed as “libelous and without any foundation” the allegations made in Moscow yesterday that the Government in Jerusalem and Israeli diplomats in Moscow had been connected with the so-called “espionage” activities attributed to Jews in the Soviet Union sentenced to long prison terms after secret trials. The allegations were made by Tass, official Soviet news agency.
“The wild accusations against the Israel Government and Israel diplomats are only libelous, without any foundation, and do not contain a word of truth,” a Foreign Ministry spokesman said. Diplomatic quarters here added that the false accusations hurled by Tass only confirm the reports of the last two weeks about the arrest and imprisonment of leading Jews in Leningrad and Moscow.
Increasing concern was expressed here about the persecution of Jewish leaders in the Soviet Union, the feeling being that the trials in Leningrad and Moscow may, indeed, represent the beginning of a renewed campaign against the Jews in the Soviet Union. (U.S. Senator Jacob K. Javits, of New York, said today in Warsaw, on his way to the Soviet Union, that he would do his “best” while in Moscow to inquire into the reports of the recent arrests of Jewish religious leaders in the USSR.)
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