Panama will request the U.S. Government to take action against the owners of the Pan York and Pan Crescent for illegal use of the Panamanian flag, it was indicated today by Panamanian diplomats.
The Panamanian consul in New York has been instructed to investigate the case. “The owners of the ships are believed to be American citizens and their flying the Panamanian flag constituted a breach of maritime law,” a Panamanian official stated. He declared that the Pan Crescent was struck off the Panamanian register on Oct. 25, 1947, and the Pan York on Nov. 5, 1947.
State Department officials here are reluctant to discuss reports of an alleged request made by the government to the F.B.I. to investigate whether funds raised by Jewish groups in the United States are being used to help bring visaless Jews to Palestine on blockade runners. They also refused to comment on press reports that some officials in the government are perturbed by the London fears that there are “fifth columnists” among the passengers on the Pan York and Pan Crescent.
JEWISH AGENCY CELLS “FIFTH COLUMN” REPORT A “CONTEMPTIBLE FALSEHOOD”
The Jewish Agency office issued a statement denying the London report and terming it “a contemptible falsehood and a cruel joke,” aimed at smearing the movement of Jews from Rumania to Palestine. Pointing out that the Jewish immigrants on the two vessels represent only a fraction of the tens of thousands who seek to leave Rumania, the statement said:
“Those on board the two vessels were chosen by responsible Zionist groups in Rumania and the method of selection is such as to make ridiculous the suggestion that they are infiltrated by communists or members of the Stern gang. The story attributed to the anonymous British spokesman is a malicious slander of people who have already undergone great sufferings and are prepared for every sacrifice in the effort to establish themselves in a homeland of their own. It is a repetition of similar statements put out by British Foreign Office propagandists during the United Nations sessions in a palpable effort to discredit the partition and immigration proposals of the UNSCOP. Its obvious intention is to create international ill-feeling and suspicion between the Great Powers who have cooperated in the United Nations settlement of the Palestine problem.”
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