King Faisal’s ‘favorite Literature’ Newsmen Accompanying Jobert to Saudi Arabia Get Copies of Protoc

King Faisal of Saudi Arabia has presented the French newsmen who accompanied Foreign Minister Michel Jobert to Jidda with a personal gift–the Protocols of the Elders of Zion and an anthology of anti-Semitic writings. Each of the newsmen in the party–and they included four known to be Jewish–was presented with a small silk basket as a “personal gift” from the King. The anthology published in 1972 contains 428 extracts from such strange co-authors as Adolf Hitler and Theodor Herzl. A large part is devoted to what it claims to be parts of the Talmud.

The Protocols is introduced by an Arab scholar, Fayez Ajjaz, who appeals to “Christians throughout the world to realize the danger threatening them and to unite their efforts to ours for the good of the entire human race.” “Le Monde” is the only French paper to reveal publicly the contents of the King’s gift. The other newsmen, apparently acting at the request of the French Foreign Ministry, have not made known to their readers the nature of the two books described by Saudi officials as “the King’s favorite literature.”

Le Monde’s Eric Rouleau, known for his articles critical of Israeli policy, was the only member of the French party to be refused a visa by the Saudis. Rouleau described himself as Jewish in his visa application. Four other Jewish newsmen either said that they were “without religion” or are believed to have produced forged baptism certificates. When invited by the Saudis to send another reporter to replace Rouleau, Le Monde forwarded the name of Miss Nicole Bernheim who also described herself as Jewish. She, too, was refused a visa.

VISA REFUSAL PROVOKES SHARP PROTESTS

Meanwhile, the Saudi Arabian Embassy’s refusal to grant Rouleau a visa has provoked sharp protest here against Saudi Arabia and Jobert. The International League Against Racism and anti-Semitism (LICA) sharply criticized what it called Jobert’s “passivity” in the affair and expressed its “indignation at the Foreign Minister’s failure to protest in the name of France against such racial discrimination.”

Daniel Mayer, president of the Human Rights League (HRL) said, “as is often the case, their avowed anti-Zionism (Saudi Arabia’s) is nothing but the official label they give to their anti-Semitism.” The National Union of Journalist Syndicates (NUJS), in a written “solemn protest” of the Saudi Arabian visa refusal, expressed “its indignation at racist, philosophical or religious pretexts used to prevent the free exercise of the journalist profession and to suppress freedom of expression.”

In addition, the NUJS strongly criticized what it termed the “passivity of the Quai d’Orsay (French State Dept.) which did not deem it necessary to protest such a discriminatory measure.” The Socialist Party also protested the visa refusal and said it was “shocked” that the Foreign Minister had failed to take “urgent” steps with the Saudi Arabian authorities and see that the refusal “was annulled.”