Two Jewish Agency representatives who were kidnaped in Algeria while on a mission there last February were killed five weeks ago, the Jewish Agency was notified here Sunday by the Algerian rebel organization, F.L.N. The two officials, Yaarov Hassan, 36, and Raphael Benherra, 38, had been seized by Algerian rebels while in the country advising prospective emigrants.
The Jewish Agency issued a statement today citing efforts by the World Jewish Congress to establish the fate of the kidnaped men and to secure their release. The statement accused the F.L.N. of deliberately misleading them by giving them the impression that the two men would soon be released when, in actual fact, they knew that the kidnaped officials were no longer alive. The F.L.N. also denied the persistent reports that the two men had been killed.
The statement declared that “the Jewish Agency bows its head before the martyrs who fell in the fulfilment of their lofty assignment.”
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