Major left-wing parties in the United States today condemned the attack at Lydda Airport terming it “senseless, barbaric, and abominable.” Simon W. Gerson, executive editor of the Daily World, the Communist Party newspaper, said, “Marxists have always opposed such terrorism,” and said the assassins were anti-Marxist. He also said that imperialists would profit from this action. Richard Hirst of the Progressive Labor Party, a pro-Maoist group, said, “We feel that these (the Japanese) are crazy fascists making war on workers. They’re not Marxists.” He added that terrorism doesn’t win people.
An editorial today in the Morning Freiheit also said that the terrorists were not Marxists and not fighters for freedom. It placed the responsibility for the attack with the Arabs and also with the airlines. Andy Rose of the Trotskyist Young Socialist Alliance, the youth arm of the Socialist Workers Party, said that his group is opposed to terrorism, but thinks that the final responsibility rests with Israel. “The reason that people are driven to such acts is the continued aggression by Israel of the Palestinians,” he said. The SWP declined to comment, saying it was in the process of preparing a statement.
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