The Zionist Federation of Britain took issue today with the British Foreign Office’s criticism of Israel for the raid into Jordan the night before last in retaliation for the murder of six Israelis within 48 hours.
The British Foreign Office expressed sympathy for Israel over what it called the irresponsible shooting from the Jordanian side that killed four members of an archaeological party at Jerusalem Sunday, then denounced the Israeli reprisal.
“In the present critical situation in the Middle East such an attitude on the part of the Foreign Office cannot be considered as either fair or statesmanlike,” the Zionist Federation said. “Recent events clearly demonstrated that the Jordan authorities are bent upon a policy of deliberate acts of violence against Israel.”
The Zionist movement, the statement continued, considers it “imperative that public opinion should fix responsibility where it properly resides” so that there be no misunderstanding over how the comparative peace following United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold’s peace efforts has been dissipated.
Meanwhile, in a speech prepared for delivery at the annual Labor Party conference in Blackpool next Monday, party chairman E.G. Gooch lambastes the British Government for having “excluded, ignored and denied arms” to Israel although Britain “has no better friend” than the Jewish State.
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.
