Families of eight border policemen, sentenced last week to prison terms in the October 1956 murders of 43 Arab villagers of Kafr Kassem, launched an effort today to mobilize public opinion against the verdicts and to win pardons for the convicted men.
A delegation tried to see Prime Minister David Ben Gurion. They were unable to talk to the Premier but did meet with his secretary Yitzhak Navon, to whom they explained that they wanted pardons for the sentenced men. The delegation members also demanded the trial of Col. Issachar Shadmi, the commanding officer of the border police, who issued the order under which the defendants had fired on the Arab villagers on the eve of the Sinai campaign. Col. Shadmi, who was severely criticized by the military tribunal for issuing the order, is currently on a mission in the United States.
Kafr Kassem elders received the verdict with satisfaction, calling it “courageous” and “just.” The Jordanian morning newspaper, Falastin, commented editorially on the sentences and expressed satisfaction with the “firmness” of the decision and even grudgingly praised Israel for not having tried to hush up the murders. The newspaper charged, however, that Col. Shadmi was “smuggled out of Israel to avoid trial.”
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.
