The State Department does not have “the basic information to corroborate or deny the report ” that Libyan government officials had sought to perpetrate the assassination of Secretary of State Henry A Kissinger in Beirut the day before five Palestinian gunmen last week killed 32 persons in the Rome and Athens airports.
Spokesman George Vest said that the Department did “not wish to discuss security stories at all”after saying that the question of Kissinger’s security came up during the trip to 13 counties from which he returned to Washington last Saturday, Kissinger was under extraordinary protection beginning with his visit to London five days prior to his visit to Lebanon, The Palestinian Black September gang was understood to be the cause of the security measures,
According to information received in Washington from European sources, members of the National Youth for the Liberation of Palestine, described as an arm of the Black September organization, planned to assassinate Kissinger in Beirut at the instigation of Libyan officials. Lebanese authorities heard of the plot and diverted his plane to a military airport 15 miles away from Beirut. According to the report ,Libya finances and direct the youth group Libya officials were said to have wanted Kissinger’s assassination before the Geneva Mideast talks originally scheduled to begin Dec,18.
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.
