The Jewish Defense League denied today that two members arrested yesterday had physically harassed two Soviet diplomats yesterday. The Soviet Mission charged that the two youths cursed and interfered with the passage of cars of Ambassador Yakob A. Malik, the USSR’s chief representative to the United Nations, and Second Secretary Gennady N. Serebryakov.
But Bertram Zweibon, JDL executive director, insisted to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the youths confronted the diplomats only “orally,” in regard to the plight of Soviet Jews, and without obscenities or physical contact.
Ambassador William E. Schaufele, Jr., the senior advisor to United Nations Ambassador George Bush, voiced “deep regret” when advised of the incidents at a committee meeting yesterday. He explained to the JTA today that such regrets are routine on the part of the US government in connection with actions, whatever their intensity, against individual foreign officials in this country. The JDLers being held are Jeffrey Glasberg, 21. and Zalman A. Ilouitz, 19, both of Brooklyn.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
