Worldwide Condemnation of Carnage

Revulsion, horror and condemnation continued to mark the reactions around the world to the terrorist carnage in Israel last Saturday.

Britain condemned the attack in the strongest language it has ever used over such an incident. Prime Minister James Callaghan, in a message of sympathy to Premier Menachem Begin of Israel, said it was “an inhuman act calculated to set back or destroy any possible hopes of peace and will be so condemned by the whole world.”

Dr. David Owen, the Foreign Secretary, in a message to Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan, said that “after my recent visit, with the memory of Israel so vividly in my mind, I was shattered and saddened to think that this sort of thing can happen at a time when we are all working towards a peace settlement. These terrorists clearly have no wish to see peace and this act will, I hope, be condemned by the whole world.”

France, in one of the harshest condemnations issued in years, warned that such acts of “blind terrorism” could hold up the current peace talks. The statement, issued by the Foreign Ministry, also included one of the warmest statements of sympathy for Israel.

DEMAND CLOSING OF PLO OFFICE

Jewish and non-Jewish organizations throughout France also expressed sympathy with Israel and the families of the victims. A number of French Jewish organizations, including the Representative Committee of French Jewry (CRIF) and the French section of the World Jewish Congress, called on the French government to close the Paris bureau of the Palestine Liberation Organization and bar the group from any activities in the country.

In a similar action, Israeli Ambassador Mordechai Gazit urged Foreign Minister Louis de-Guiringaud to close down the PLO information bureau in Paris as a response to the terrorist attack. French sources told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency they do not expect France to heed Israel’s demand although they expect French-PLO relations to be “frozen” for some time as a result of Saturday’s violence.

Meanwhile, President Valery Giscard d’Estaing sent a cable yesterday to President Ephraim Katzir of Israel to express his “shock and indignation” and to convey France’s sympathy to the families of the victims and Israel’s population. Observers say that this is the first known instance in which Giscard has taken such an initiative. Some say the response could be linked to next Sunday’s second round of France’s parliamentary elections in which the government and the opposition are running a close race.

PROTESTS IN EUROPE, AUSTRALIA

In Amsterdam, The Netherlands Foreign Minister, Christoph van der Klaauw, expressed sympathy on behalf of the government with the families of the terrorist victims. He added that this event “shows once more the urgent necessity of a peace settlement in the Middle East.” The parliamentary chairmen of all the major Dutch political parties issued a joint statement expressing sympathy with the victims’ families and hope that the event would not stand in the way of peace negotiations.

Protests were also issued by government agencies, organizations and individuals in West Germany, Belgium, Italy and other West European countries. The protest statements branded the PLO as “murderers” and expressed sympathy with Israel and its people.

In Canberra, Australia, the Minister for Foreign Affairs, Andrew Peacock, said all Australians would be “shocked and saddened by the senseless attack” by the terrorists and said his government hoped the attack would not impede progress toward an Israeli-Egyptian peace settlement.

In Melbourne yesterday some 800 Jews marched through the city to protest the massacre after hearing communal leaders condemn the killings and calling for support for Israel. The Jewish Board of Deputies, the State Zionist Council and the Australian Union of Jewish Students issued a joint statement calling on the government to denounce the PLO.

In Sydney, Jewish students and community leaders held a memorial service for the victims of the raid outside the Lebanese Consulate. A delegation of Jewish leaders was received by the Lebanese Consul-General who expressed his sympathy for the victims of the terrorists.

CALLS FOR END TO PLO STATUS AT UN

In Washington, the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington delivered a statement to the Saudi Arabian Embassy yesterday declaring that the “responsibility” for the slaughter is “on Saudi Arabia, the main bankroller of the Fatah.” A representative of the Embassy accepted the statement, and indicated that Ambassador Ali Abdullah Alireza might meet with JCC officials. Some 50 JCC representatives staged a protest rally outside the Embassy.

Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz met last night with Alfred Atherton, the special Mideast envoy, and formally asked the State Department to cancel the PLO’s permission to have an observer mission at the United Nations. According to an Israeli spokesman, Dinitz pointed out that the UN had invited the PLO to address the General Assembly in 1974–where PLO chief Yasir Arafat addressed the world body–but had not authorized the creation of an observer’s office.

At the United Nations, Israel’s Acting Ambassador Pinhas Eliav sent a letter last night to Secretary General Kurt Waldheim officially documenting the “barbaric outrage” committed last Saturday and requested the letter be circulated as an official document of the General Assembly and the Security Council.

STATEMENTS AND RESOLUTIONS

In Johannesburg, Julius Weinstein, chairman of the South African Zionist Federation, cabled a message to Premier Menachem Begin of Israel expressing shock at the “barbaric attack” and said that “the civilized world will condemn the murderers and those who sent them and must now understand Israel’s refusal to have any truck with them.”

In Ottawa, Canadian Prime Minster Pierre Elliott Trudeau, in a personal letter to Begin, expressed the outrage and shock of the Canadian government and people at the terrorist attack. The letter said: “Senseless acts such as this do not contribute to the important peace talks undertaken by yourself and President Sadat. I encourage you to continue your peace negotiations and please convey my heartfelt condolences to the families of the victims.”

In Florida, a statement was issued yesterday by the Jewish Federation of Greater Fort Lauderdale on behalf of the 100,000 Jews of North Broward County appealing “to men and women of goodwill everywhere” in the County to protest “these acts of Arab terror, to protest Saudi Arabia’s support of these acts and to protest President Sadat’s silence in the face of them.” There can be no question, the statement added, “but that a Palestinian state would turn out to be a launching pad for incessant murderous attacks on those cities of Israel lying in its orbit.”

In New York, Rabbi Saul I. Teplitz, president of the Synagogue Council of America, who last month led a Council delegation to Egypt where meetings were held with President Anwar Sadat and Minister of State for Foreign Affairs Boutros Ghali, expressed “the distress of our delegation at the response” of Ghali to the massacre and disappointment at the silence of Sadat, “a silence that suggests a moral insensitivity.” Ghali said in Cairo Sunday that the raid demonstrated the need to “establish a homeland for the Palestinians.” Upon his return from Cairo, Teplitz said the delegation felt it had made a “historical breakthrough” in Jewish-Islamic relations.

Statements and resolutions condemning the attack were also issued by the United Synagogue of America; the World Council of Synagogues, the international organization of Conservative Judaism; Rabbi Walter S. Wurzburger, president, Rabbinical Council of America; Kagey Kash, president, B’nai B’rith Women; Frank L. Lautenberg, president, United Jewish Appeal; and the National Council of Jewish Women.

MEMORIAL MEETING FOR THE VICTIMS

A memorial service for the victims of the raid was held last night at the headquarters of the Jewish Agency in New York. More than 300 Israeli officials, Jewish leaders and employes of the Jewish Agency attended the meeting. Charlotte Jacobson, chairman of the American Section of the World Zionist Organization, said the PLO murderers have been encouraged by the world, which recognized the terrorist group, and by the United States.

Continuing, Mrs. Jacobson declared: “To our government in Washington we want to say–if you continue to send arms to Egypt and Saudi Arabia you will be implementing the seeds of further terrorism in the Mideast.” Uri Ben Ari, Israel’s Consul-General in New York, said that Israel is determined not to allow the PLO to achieve its aim of destroying the peace process in the area. “We will continue to pursue a secure peace for Israel,” he declared.