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Youth Who Aimed Gun at Israel Cabinet Sent Back to Jail; Threatens to Fast to Death

September 15, 1949
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Abraham Tzafati, who brandished a loaded Sten gun at members of Israel’s Cabinet, including Premier David Ben Gurion, in the Knesset, was recommitted to 15 days in prison today following a preliminary hearing in magistrate’s court. The youth said he would fast to death unless the Knesset expressed willingness to hear his plan for erection of a “World Peace Center” in Jerusalem on the site of the ancient Temple.

Meanwhile, reports reaching here from Teheran, Tzafati’s native city, reveal that the youth returned to Israel only three months ago after he attempted to organize a campaign of anti-British terror in Iran. Iranian police succeeded in apprehending him and he was sentenced to jail for a year for entering the country illegally. However, because of his “mental instability,” Tzafati was released after a few weeks internment. It is not known how the youth succeeded in reaching Israel but he apparently crossed the borders of several Arab countries to arrive here from Iran.

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