The Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations announced today that special memorial services will be held at the Fifth Avenue Synagogue tomorrow afternoon for the victims of the Lydda Airport massacre. A vigil was held here today outside the Lebanese Consulate. About a dozen people picketed to protest the sheltering and training of the Lydda killers on Lebanese soil. Jacob Stein, chairman of the Presidents’ Conference, said the memorial would be addressed by Israel’s Ambassador to the US, Yitzhak Rabin and Rep. Herman Badillo (D. NY), the only Puerto Rican Congressman. Sixteen Puerto Rican tourists were slain at Lydda. Prayers will be led by Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the American Zionist Federation and the Rev, David Hunter, associate general secretary of the National Council of Churches of Christ.
The B’nai B’rith said today that it would close its offices early tomorrow to permit its 300 employes to attend the memorial. Stein said that further efforts in the name of the Lydda Airport victims will include meetings with political and civic leaders across the country to gain support for protests against Lebanon and “warlike utterances from other countries.” International civil aviation bodies will be contacted and asked to develop means “to insure that this thing won’t happen again,” he said. The Presidents’ Conference also plans to contact church organizations for assurances that they will not stop organizing tours to Israel.
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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.
