Theodore Mann, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, denounced “a series of attempts to terrorize members of the Egyptian delegation to the United Nations and Egyptian members of the UN staff by setting fires to their homes (in Westchester County, New York) and other violence.” In response to a related incident, Rabbi Henry Siegman, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, assailed a fire-bombing attack over the weekend against the Egyptian Consulate in San Francisco as an “evil and stupid crime.”
In a telegram to U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations Andrew Young, Mann said “we and all who support the cause of Israel and of peace in the Middle East, denounce such despicable acts. We have urged all persons who have information about such crimes to come forward so that the guilty may be brought to justice.”
Mann declared that those claiming responsibility for “these cowardly and criminal deeds have identified themselves in telephone calls to the media as members of a Jewish group.” He added: “If that is true, they bring shame and dishonor to all Jews. Their tactics are foreign to the Jewish tradition, for they seek to take the law into their own hands and in so doing, to decide the very question of who shall live and who shall die.”
Mann declared that “the people of Israel have suffered cruel and mindless terrorism at the hands of the Palestine Liberation Organization. It is disheartening to find such attempts taking place in our own country by those who assert they are acting in Israel’s interest. These persons have no warrant to speak or act for Israel or for the American Jewish community.”
SHARE METHODS OF THE PLO
In denouncing the fire-bombing in San Francisco, Siegman said that the attack is “a depressing example” of how the group responsible for this act “has become indistinguishable from the gang that calls itself the Palestine Liberation Organization. Those who committed this criminal act share not only the methods of the PLO, which is to use violent means to terrorize their opponents, but also the goal of the PLO, which is to sabotage the chances of a peaceful settlement of the Arab-Israeli conflict.”
The violent acts against Egyptian installations and representatives are usually followed by a call to the media by an anonymous person claiming to be speaking for the Jewish Defense League, as was the case in San Francisco. The JDL officially denies responsibility but “hails” the assaults.
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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.
