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Rumanian Communists Seek to Compel Zionist Leaders to “confess” Espionage for U.S.

August 21, 1950
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Jewish Communists in Rumania are seeking to compel arrested Zionist leaders to “confess” that they have conducted espionage activities on behalf of the United States as well as sabotage against Rumania’s economic system, it was reported here today be Hador, organ of the Israel Labor Party.

The report says that apparently only five or six of the arrested 45 Zionist leaders will be put on trial, after those “prepared” to admit their “guilt” are chosen. Some of the Leaders, arrested on July 11, have been released after being “worked up” to a point where they allagedly agreed to testify against the other Zionist leaders who are still detained, Hador reports, adding that “Bucharest is filled with rumors to this effect.”

The Israel labor peper also reports that Jews in Rumania today live in greater anxiety “than during the Nazi days.” They are afraid to confide in one another and speak in whispers. “Continued repressive methods may lead to a larger proportion of suicides among Jews in Rumania, the normal proportion having been exceeded even at present,” the report says.

The paper charges that Samnel Mikunis, general secretary of the Communist Party in Israel and a member of the Israel parliament, has helped to stimulate renewed propaganda in Rumania against the Jewish state during his recent visit to Bucharest. Mikunis, the article states, attended several closed meetings of the Jewish Communist Party during his stay in Rumania and reported on the situation in Israel with a view to helping in the campaign of incitement against the Jewish state.

The general secretary of the Communist Party in Israel is also charged by the labor newspaper with recommending to the Rumanian Government that the arrested Zionist leaders in Rumania be put on trial. The paper points out that the anti-Israel propaganda conducted by Mikunis during his visit to Rumania “proved inefficient” and led only to increased eagerness on the part of Rumanian Jews to go to Israel.

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