An Anglo-Jewish leader who presided at a pro-Israel rally here today said Israeli Ambassador Shlomo Argov’s condition remains “critical and unchanged” ten days after he was shot through the head in an assassination attempt outside a London hotel.
Greville Janner, a Labor MP and president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews, said the condi- tion of the envoy, who has been unconscious since the assault, prevented his wife from attending the mass rally which drew some 5000 friends of Israel to the Royal Albert Hall. The rally, organized by the British Jewish community, expressed support for Israel’s invasion of Lebanon which was triggered by the attack on Argov. Israel holds the Palestine Liberation Organization responsible.
The rally was addressed by Jewish community leaders, non-Jewish friends of Israel and Israel’s Deputy Foreign Minister Yehuda Ben-Meir who stressed that Israel’s only goal in Lebanon “is that it should not be used as a base for aggression against Israel and that foreign troops should leave Lebanese soil.”
Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and Foreign Secretary Francis Pym were sharply criticized by speakers for condemning Israel’s incursion into Lebanon in the same terms as the Argentine seizure of the Falkland Islands. A non-Jewish speaker, Prof. Paul Wilkinson of Aberdeen University, accused the British ministers of “hypocritical cant.”
Britain’s Chief Rabbi, Sir Immanuel Jakobovits said he hoped the world would be grateful to Israel for demonstrating that terrorism cannot succeed, just as Britain was showing in the South Atlantic that unprovoked aggression must not succeed.
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.
