State Department officials said today that American diplomats in Moscow have received harassing telephone calls and have been under very close surveillance, probably in retaliation for recent Jewish Defense League harassment of Soviet diplomats in Washington and New York According to the State Department, Washington area police forces have increased their patrols of diplomat’s homes. Despite such patrols, the picture window in the home of Vladislav V. Shimanovskiy, an attache at the Soviet Embassy, was broken Sunday for the second time in three days. The window was broken by an object wrapped in a note “Never Again. “Yesterday’s window breaking took place as police were processing the last of the 34 arrests from the Jewish Identity Week demonstration. Twenty-one adults and 13 juveniles were arrested. Twenty-one persons were charged with disorderly conduct and 13 with demonstrating within 500 feet of an embassy. Two juveniles and three adults were also charged with illegal entry after they jumped over the Soviet Embassy gate. The adults arrested for illegal entry had to post a $350 bond.
Rabbi Meir Kahane, national chairman of the JDL, told the JTA that he was able to get a bondsman only through his “good friend,” Joe Colombo. (Colombo was shot and critically wounded at an Italian American Civil Rights rally in New York City today.) At the rally before the demonstration, Yossi Templeman gave lessons in harassing the Russians. He suggested that Washington residents follow Soviet diplomats and wear signs “The man in front of me is a Russian tyrant.” He also suggested talking to the diplomats and vesting and calling them at their homes “sometime after work, about 2 or 3 in the morning.” He said that anyone interested in the unlisted address or telephone number of Soviet officials in the Washington area should contact the Student Activists for Soviet Jewry which would provide a free list. State Department officials said they did not anticipate the lessons would be taken seriously.
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.
