The two terrorists arrested in connection with the bombing of a Vienna synagogue last Saturday warned police today that there would be other terrorist acts aimed at freeing them. Two Jews were killed and 18 wounded as they left the synagogue after a Bar Mitzvah celebration.
Mohammed Radjih and Ali Yussuf, alias Hassan Marvan, who are being held in tight security prisons, made the threat during interrogation by police.
Security measures in Vienna, which had been sharply tightened after the assassination last May of Heinz Nittel, a Vienna city councillor and president of the Austrian-Israeli Friendship Society, as well as after threats against the life of Chancellor Bruno Kreisky, were extended to foreign embassies and airline offices, which are now guarded by policemen carrying submachine guns, in addition to their regulation pistols.
DENIES TRANSIT CAMPS WILL BE CLOSED
Meanwhile Kreisky rejected today speculation that Austria might close transit camps for Jewish emigrants from the Soviet Union, declaring “this is a barefaced lie.” He made the statement in response to questions by reporters, adding, “I have heard this for the first time.” He said “this is part of the atrocity propaganda brought forth by Israeli media. I repeat I will not allow that emigrants will be forced to go to one particular country,” meaning Israel.
Kreisky added that “from the moment when the emigrants have entered Austria, they have the right to decide where they want to go. The Jewish Agency wants us to influence them to go to certains directions. We are not willing to do that at all.” He also said that “Israel will have to cope by itself with the fact that for some years the number of emigrants from Israel has been larger than the number of immigrants.”
Kreisky, who has been sharply criticized by Israeli officials for being the first Western Europe head of state to recognize the Palestine Liberation Organization, stressed that he was “pro-Israel” but that he opposed the “strict policy” toward the Palestinian Arabs in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip by the government of Premier Menachem Begin. He added, “I am not the only Western politician who thinks so.”
Kreisky declared that “radical Palestinians like Al Asifa,” an extremist splinter terrorist group which claimed responsibility for the killing of Nittel and the threats against Kreisky, “criticize my policy as being too friendly towards Israel so I am being fought from both sides.”
Help ensure Jewish news remains accessible to all. Your donation to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency powers the trusted journalism that has connected Jewish communities worldwide for more than 100 years. With your help, JTA can continue to deliver vital news and insights. Donate today.
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.
