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 — VErmont 8 9364 - — 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.