Scotland Yard officials today again reiterated their denial of press reports that Jewish extremists are suspected of sending explosive “letter bombs” to members of the British Cabinet and high Army officers.
The officials declined to comment on reports in today’s newspapers that among the persons who have received the explosive envelopes are Sir Harold MacMichael, former Palestine High Commissioner, Lieut. Gen. Evelyn Barker, former commander of the military forces in Palestine and Anthony Eden.
Special Scotland Yard men were ready to fly today to Milan to trace the origin of the letters which were mailed from a post office in Italy. Police are checking the letters for finger prints and are making ink and other tests. But dispatches from Italy said that the Italian authorities declared that it was highly unlikely that any envelope containing explosives could possibly withstand the force of Italian cancelling machines. The letters contain gelignite and a pencil battery detonator. Anyone opening them could be seriously injured or even killed.
Maj. Gen. Edward Spears, former British minister in the Levant, who is strongly pro-Arab, asserted that he had received one of the letters, and added that “there are Zionist desperadoes in Italy who are after me.” However, the letters are also reported to have been received by such pro-Zionists as Arthur Greenwood and John Strachey, and Jewish circles here suspect that they are the work of British fascists, operating through fascist remnants in Italy.
(A JTA dispatch from Jerusalem tonight said that the Stern Group had admitted that its members had sent the explosive-laden letters.)
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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.
