Israeli sources said today that the Egyptian Government had apparently embarked on a program of claiming “papyrus victories” in order to bolster Arab morale in advance of the summit meeting at Rabat later this month and on the eve of the departure of an Egyptian delegation to Moscow.
The greatest of the “papyrus victories” claimed by the Egyptians was a so-called “company strength” attack on an Israeli strong point on the Suez Canal which the Egyptians said they captured and held for 24 hours beating off Israeli counter-attacks and attempts to lower the Egyptian flag which flew over the strong point. Any connection between the Egyptian claims. Israeli sources said, and the facts of the situation are entirely non-existent.
Israeli sources insist that the big Egyptian attack never took place, not a single position was attacked nor were Israeli tanks damaged or soldiers killed in any such incident. Nor, they said, was an Israeli plane shot down as the Egyptians claimed.
During the past year, the Egyptians have claimed to have shot down at least 110 Israeli planes, 58 of them in the last four months, seven in the month of November alone. Actual losses, according to official Israeli sources, were four Israeli planes shot down in the last four months. During November, Israel lost no planes at all. During the four -month period, Egyptian losses were 20 planes although Cairo officially admitted the loss of only six.
The terrorist organizations have also adopted the Egyptian system of claiming “papyrus victories,” the Israelis is declare. In August, the terror groups claimed to have carried out 561 actions. At least 40 percent of these were imaginary with no indication that they were ever even attempted. In September, the announced number was 369.50 percent of which were imaginary. In October, the percentage of imaginary attacks was even higher. The Arab terrorists claimed they had carried out 376 actions but 64 percent of these never took place. There was roughly the same amount of imagination involved in the terrorist claim of 334 actions in November.
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.
