E JEWIS NEWS
Israel's Improved
Financial Position
Smolar's Column
on Page 2
A Weekly Review
The Unjustified
Attacks on Zionism
Editorial, Page 4
of Jewish Events
Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper—Incorporating The Detroit Jewish Chronicle
VOLUME 27, No. 22
27
17100 W. 7 MILE RD., Detroit 35
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August 5, 1955
The Right to
Petition : Rep.
Bentley's Blunder
The FDR Comment
On Ibn Saud
Commentary, Page 2
$4.00 Per Year, Single Copy 15c
In Protest Against Bulgarian Act—
Israel Cancels Participation in
Sofia International Trade Fair
Editorial
The 58 Dead: It Was Murder
It was sheer murder!
There can be no other view of the Bulgarian attack on
Israel's El Al plane that carried 58 innocent people!
Bulgaria's official statement said that "the anti-aircraft
defense was unable to identify the plane." When, in peace
time. has such a lame excuse been heard?
Now we learn that Soviet "MIGs" did the shooting.
What other verdict than murder can there be for such
an act?
The first report was that the plane had wandered four
miles from Greece into Bulgarian territory, but Bulgaria
claims that the plane was 100 miles within its territory.
This is not only another lame excuse, but an impossible and
a senseless one—and the shocking and irresponsible act of
an Iron Curtain country has resulted in what is described as
the fifth worst calamity of its kind in the history of com-
mercial air travel.
*
*
Bulgaria added to the horror of the situation by making
it impossible for an Israeli investigating committee to enter
the country immediately after the calamity; and by refusing
for more than 24 hours to release information about the
passengers—while thousands of people in Israel, in the
United States, in Great Britain and in other countries were
frantically waiting for news about their relatives who
were believed to be on planes bound for Israel.
The first United Press report revealing the_ shocking
truth about the horrible occurrence also added: "It similarly
cast a shadow over the post-Geneva cold war 'armistice,
with its promise of an end of the cold war, and recalled
the long series of incidents that have occurred in the past
when military and civil planes alike were attacked by Red
guns and fighter planes."
*
*
There is talk about compensation, at a time when
nothing can possibly compensate the survivors for their
losses.
The brutal attack leaves a blot on Bulgaria that can
never be wiped out. It subjects the tactics of countries
behind the Iron Curtain to severest condemnation.
There is no excuse—there can be excuse—for murder:
and the Bulgarian act was sheer murder.
•
*
*
Neither_ apologies nor monetary compensations can pos-
sibly atone for the brutal act. We place on the record the
verdict expressed under the-heading "Murder in Bulgaria,"
in the following editorial in the New York Times
"A deep sense of shock is the inevitable reaction to the facts
surrounding the wanton shooting down of an Israeli airlines plane
by Bulgarian anti-aircraft fire. A peaceful commercial plane makes
a navigational error and strays off its scheduled route so that it
crosses a few miles over the border of another country. The plane
is clearly marked and Greek soldiers who see it in the air recognize
it for what it is. Yet for Bulgarian border guards the whole set
of facts adds up to the compulsion to shoot the plane down as
though it were a military bomber carrying weapons. Could there
be a clearer case of murder?
"The Bulgarian government has expressed its regrets over the
incident. But regrets do not bring to life any one of the more than
fifty innocent persons who lost their lives in this tragedy. And
Bulgarian 'regret' must be taken skeptically in view of the whole
long, sad history of similar shootings by Communist gunners at
many points along the whole Iron Curtain from the Pacific to
Europe.
"At Geneva last week Soviet leaders went all out to impress
the outside world with their desire for friendship and peace. This
murder in Bulgaria gives a hollow ring to such words. For friend-
ship and peace the Communist countries must be willing to behave
in decent, civilized fashion. There is nothing either decent or
civilized about this barbarous incident, and public opinion in the
West will draw the necessary conclusions."
*
Such acts must not recur! Let it be a lesson to mankind
that acts of aggression—for this is what the attack on the
El Al plane was: an act of aggression!—will not be tolerated.
The New York Herald Tribune evaluated it, in its editorial
"Apologies Are Not Enough," this:
"The Bulgarian government has expressed its 'sincere regret'
the shooting down of an Israeli arliner with a loss of fifty-eight
lives, including thirteen Americans. But this is emphatically a case
in which apologies are not enough. As the British Under Secretary
for Foreign AYairs, R. H. Turton, said in the House of Commons:
`I can't envisage any circumstances in which a civil airliner on a
civil flight can be legitimately shot down.'
"The question of how to deal with incursions by planes of one
for
(Continued on Page 3)
Admit Jets
Downed. El Al
Constellation
(Flash from JTA)
LONDON — The Bulgarian
government has delivered a
note to Israel admitting that
the El Al Constellation was
shot down by Bulgarian fight-
er planes and indicating their
willingness to pay compensa-
tion, it was reported here on
Wednesday.
The earlier official Bulgar-
ian version of the incident
said that the Israel plane was
downed by anti-aircraft fire
after it. flew 100 miles over
Bulgarian territory and ig-
nored warnings to identify it-
self.
The note, announced via
Sofia radio, said that two jets
shot down the Israel plane,
adding that they were too
hasty and "did not take all
necessary measures to force
the plane to land."
The broadcast also said that
the Bulgarian government will
take all steps "to discover
and punish those responsible
for the catastrophe."
The 58 Who Died
On El Al Plane
These are the 58 who died on
the El Al plane that was shot
down murderously in Bulgaria:
THE AMERICANS
INGBERMAN, Rabbi Pincus; 35,
142 Hewes St., Brooklyn, N. Y.
SHEINBAUM, Mrs. Zahawa; 35,
210 W. 101st St., New York;
representative of Histadrut Iv-
rit; traveled as a delegate
from World Jewish Congress
to Israel.
MANN, Avram M.; 61, 201 Clin-
ton Ave., Brooklyn; master of
ceremonies on Yiddish radio
programs; in private life his
name was A. M. Goffman.
HAHN, Mrs. Anne; 52, 506 Fort
Washington Ave., New York;
wife of Rabbi Hugo Hahn.
SACKS, Mrs. Anne; 53, 150 Ben-
nett Ave., New York, and her
daughters, RENE, 18, and
DEBORAH, 16. Were on their
way to Israel to visit with
their husband and father, Max
Sacks, owner of textile factory
in Tel Aviv.
AVRAM, Mrs. Rachel; 47, wife
of Mendel M. Avram, New
York clothing manufacturer.
COHEN, Mrs. Ora; 28, 2030 81st
St., Brooklyn, employed in
reference department of New
York Public Library, wife of
Daniel Cohen. Was en route to
visit her father, Yehuda Fra-
enkel, Jerusalem lawyer.
SHAFER, Mrs. Toby Z.; 45, 1470
St. Johns Place, Brooklyn; was
en route to visit her son in
Israel.
KATZ, Mrs. Paul, and daughter,
ANNE, 56 Fort Washington
Ave., New York. Husband and
father was believed to have
preceded them to Israel.
BRASS, Jack, 86-55 109th St.,
Kew Gardens, Queens; British
subject; member of the public
relations department of the
Hebrew University.
(Continued on Page 3)
Direct
JTA
Teletype Wire to The Jewish News
JERUSALEM—Israel has cancelled its planned
participation in an international trade fair which was
scheduled to be held in Bulgaria later this year, an
Israel Foreign Ministry spokesman declared Tuesday.
Although the spokesman gave no official reason for
this action, it is understood that Israel has adopted a
cool attitude toward Bulgaria pending satisfaction
over the shooting down of the El Al Constellation with
58 persons aboard.
The Israel commission investigating circumstances
of the crash will enter Yugoslavia to press its inquiry
in the frontier area of that country from which the
plane came just before it was shot down, it was re-
ported here Tuesday. The dispatch added that the
Yugoslav government has itself instituted an inquiry as
to the circumstances of the plane's passing its border
area, and whether any Bulgarian shells fired at the
plane landed in Yugolav territory.
Preparations were being made here Tuesday for
burial of the remains of the 58 victims in a common
grave. A special planning committee consists of repre-
sentatives of the Premier's office, the Ministry for Re-
ligion and the foreign ministry. As the remains will
be buried in a Jerusalem cemetery, and since it is im-
possible to distinguish between Jewish and non-Jewish
victims, no religious services will be held.
Meanwhile the remains are en route by rail from
Sofia to Instanbul, where three Israel airplanes--two
supplied by air force and one a commercial transport
—will fly them to Israel.
Religious Groups May Join New
Israeli Coalition Government
Direct
JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News
JERUSALEM—An indication that the joint Mizrachi-
Hapoel Hamizrachi bloc of 12 deputies in the Knesset will
enter a coalition government which Mapai leaders David
Ben-Gurion and Premier Moshe Sharett are attempting to
form was given here Tuesday at the opening of the joint
World Mizrachi-Hapoel Hamizrachi conference.
The hint was provided by Minister for Religion Moshe
Shapira, leader of the Labor Mizrachi movement, who de-
clared that his group has been charged with "running for
coalition." This, he added, was "not to preserve our seats
(in Parliament) but to achieve unity in the state, and to
form a workable government."
Mr. Shapira stressed that it was a major principle of his
party that Israel cannot become a secular state. "It is im-
possible to separate the state from religion," he said, "and
although it is impossible to interfere in the private lives of
citizens, then public and state life must be religious."
The meeting, which was preceded by separate confer-
ences of Mizrachi and Hapoel Hamizrachi, held respectively
in Jerusalem and Tel Aviv during the past two days, was
opened in the presence of Israel President Itzhak Ben-Zvi,
Premier Sharett, British Chief Rabbi Israel Brodie and more
than 200 delegates from Israel and abroad.
eht of Honor' Paid:
Joseph S.
Elkin, 65, (center) , and his wife Rose, shown as they
presented, to Arthur Greenleigh, executive director of
United Hias Service, a check many times the amount
laid out for them by the immigration agency nearly
four and a half decades earlier. When they arrived in
New York in 1911 they were met at the boat by aides
of HIAS, one of the predecessor organizations of United
Hias Service, put up at the agency's shelter for about
ten days, and their fare paid to Omaha, Neb. There they
settled and raised a family, and Elkin worked at his
trade, which was carpentry. This year, his three daught-
ers and a son all married, he retired and, as he relates
it, he was troubled by the "debt of honor" that he felt
he owed to the migration agency.