The “false and malicious accounts” of the Algerian anti-Jewish riots appearing in a Palestine Arab newspaper are sharply criticized in a statement by Acting French Consul General Caumeau branding the Arabs as the assailants.
“The Acting French Consul General,” M. Caumeau writes in a release to the press, “protests with indignation against the wrong and absurdly exaggerated reports conveyed by Al Jamia Al Islamia (leading Palestine Arab newspaper) on the subject of the events in Constantine.
“In the course of the troubles of August 4-6 there were twenty-four dead and twenty-seven injured on the Jewish side and three dead and twenty-two injured on the side of the Moslems. The latter were the assailants.
“Between August 6 and 8 minor incidents occurred in the surroundings of Constantine in which two Jews were murdered.
“Calm was completely restored on August 8 and the situation in the countryside is now normal. The imprisoned murderers and agitators are to be tried by the ordinary courts. They are being charged with murder, armed looting, plundering and arson.
“The Municipal Councillors and the Moslem notables of Constantine are unanimous in repudiating the tragic events and have assured the French government that they will do their best to restore good relations between Moslems and Jews.
“The Acting French Consul General finds it reprehensible that an Arab Nationalist paper in Palestine should seek to attract attention to a situation by means of fantastically false figures concerning massacres perpetrated by cowards which can but dishonor the Arab cause. There are other means of enforcing political claims than by cutting the throats of children and deceiving the local population by unfounded reports.”
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.
