Israel denounced today “the Palestine Liberation Organization’s murderous attack” against Jewish worshippers in a Vienna synagogue last Saturday, charging that the attack demonstrated that the PLO is undertaking “a ruthless murder campaign not only against civilians in Israel but also against Jews and the Jewish people everywhere.”
These charges were included in a letter from Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Yehuda Blum, addressed to Secretary General Kurt Waldheim and Security Council President Jorge Enrique Illeuca, of Panama.
In his letter, Blum stated that “outrages of this kind must surely disabuse of any illusions all those who may still be entertaining them with regard to the true nature of the terrorist PLO, which cannot be considered by any stretch of the imagination ‘a national liberation movement’.”
Waldheim strongly condemned the attack on the same day it took place. In a statement issued by his spokesman, Waldheim said he deeply “regrets the loss of life and casualties in the attack. Such acts of violence are contrary to the idea of the international community and the whole civilized world.”
Meanwhile, the leaders of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, Synagogue Council of America, Jewish National Fund, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America, Rabbinical Council of America and the Jewish Labor Committee condemned the attack as another shameful episode in the history of the terrorist organization.
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.
