There has been an increasing display of anti-Israel sentiments here, in Greece and West Germany in recent day among Jews and non-Jews who have been angered by Israel’s invasion into Lebanon and others who oppose the policies of the government of Premier Menachem Begin.
In Paris, a group of 60 prominent physicists including many Jews, have called on scientists throughout the world to cut off their relations with Israeli scientific institutions while also appealing to Israeli scientists to protest the actions of the Begin government in Lebanon.
At the same time, a prominent Jewish law professor and scion to one of France’s best known Jewish families recently delivered a blistering attack against Israel for its invasion into Lebanon and against the Jewish State’s traditional policies toward the Palestinians. Gerard Lyon-Caen, a law professor at the Sorbonne University, attacked the policies on both legal and moral grounds in a half page article in Le Monde. He called for a change of policy beginning with a “political dialogue” between Palestinians and Israelis.
Lyon-Caen was particularly harsh in criticizing Israel’s decision to consider the Palestinians captured in Lebanon as common-law criminals. “There is no precedent (in legal history) of a country detaining under administrative arrest people captured during a military operation on the territory of another state,” he said.
The Paris professor said “a thousand signs indicate that the PLO is ready today to negotiate. Should Israel refuse to lay aside its weapons and admit the existence of the other side, it will be doomed to perpetual war with its neighbors and internal strife.” Meanwhile, several thousand people demonstrated earlier this month in front of the Israeli Embassy here calling for an Israeli withdrawal from Lebanon and “an end to the genocide of the Palestinian people.” Police said the demonstration, called by the Communist dominated CGT trade union, numbered around 2,000.
The Embassy building, where all shutters and gates were closed, was guarded by several squadrons of riot police who barred both ends of the mission’s street. Several Jews participated in the rally displaying placards with Begin caricatures and bearing slogans as “No to Begin and Sharon.”
A smaller demonstration, some 1,000 people, according to police estimates, took place in front of the American Embassy. It was organized by various pro-Palestinian organizations.
CHARGES OF ANTI-SEMITISM IN GREECE
In Greece, members of the Parliament have charged that the country “is being turned into a center of anti-Semitism,” a charge denied by an official spokesman for the Greek government, according to a broadcast monitored by sources of the World Jewish Congress.
WJC monitoring sources attributed the reported charges and denial to a broadcast earlier this week carried by Athens Armed Forces Radio. The broadcast reported that the denial was in response to a question directed to the Prime Minister and the Foreign Minister by five deputies of the opposition New Democracy Party. The parliamentarians had declared that “the entire state and party propaganda machinery have unleashed an open and violent campaign of anti-Semitism.”
In his response, the government spokesman stated that “not even for a moment have the Greek government and people expressed the slightest anti-Semitism.” He added that Greece “has always supported the position that Israel should acquire a homeland and live in security” while noting that “at the same time the Palestinian people should also have their own homeland so that there may be peace in the area.”
The spokesman, the broadcast reported, cited the Greek government’s denunciation of “the barbarous attack by the Israeli people against the non-combatant Palestinians and Lebanese people,” while also remarking that the “protests and representations by the Greek government concern the Israeli government which is handling the issue in this matter, and not the Israeli nation.”
Meanwhile, in Munich, some 1,000 German and Arab demonstrators rallied last week against Israel. There were no incidents reported.
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.
