The wave of kidnappings which has swept Palestine in recent weeks occasioned a joint proclamation today by Chief Rabbis Isaac Herzog and Ben Zion Usiel protesting against the abductions as “a desecration of the name of the Jewish people and a threat to Jewish morale.”
Simultaneously, two more persons were kidnapped. They were Chaim Beinardt, a student at the Hebrew University, who was seized in Jerusalem, and Israel Dzialovsky who was abducted in Haifa. Dzialovsky was released after two hours. Meanwhile, Daniel Janowsky, an employee of the Jerusalem Jewish community office, who was kidnapped two weeks ago, returned home today.
A military court here has acquitted an Arab charged with illegal possession of a revolver, stating that he gave a “logical excuse for possessing it, since it was needed for self-protection.” Last November two Jewish youths, David Salomon, 23, and David Epstein, 24, were sentenced to seven years imprisonment by a military court for possessing arms, although they testified that the arms were needed to defend their colony, and despite testimony that they were members of a self-defense organization pledged to combat terrorists.
The Palestine Government announced today that 25 of the persons arrested on suspicion of terroristic activities were released during December.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.