Oran Jews Isolated; Two Children Murdered
Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News
the Jewish quarter of the Algerian town of Oran. A curfew imposed by French
ALGIERS—One of the most brutal murders in the Moslem outbreak of security forces has sealed off the Jews from the outside world. Commandos
terrorism against Europeans in Algeria, Monday, was the slaying of two Jewish believed affiliated with the OAS, the French anti-independence movement in
children one two and one six. Algeria, presumably based in the Jewish quarter, attacked French police bases
The mother had left the children in the care of a Moslem serving women in Oran. The government security forces said a house-to-house check in the
while she went shopping. On her return she found their bodies with their mellah had yielded five machine guns and 100 rifles. The French have detained
throats cut. The Moslem was gone and has not been seen since. about 50 Jews living in the Oran mellah, holding some for suspicion of affiliation
JTA reports from Paris that new fighting has broken out in the mellah, with the OAS.
Detroit
Jewish
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JEWISH NEWS
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Anniversary
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A Weekly Review
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Villainous
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Self-Hating
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Plot to Murder Prominent
Jews Involves Right-Wing
Group and Miami Policemen
MIAMI, (JTA)—A fantastic terrorist plot involving the bomb-
ing of a local editor's home, the alleged planned assassination of
prominent Jews here, among them Dade County State Attorney Rich-
ard A. Gerstein, and police counter-intelligence work in which an
undercover policeman deliberately planted simulated "dynamite"
sticks in front of a synagogue, was revealed here in Criminal Court.
The disclosures were made by Gerstein, one of the intended
victims, when he appeared before Criminal Court Judge Gene Wil-
liams to argue against motions by attorneys for three indicted men
who sought to quash the indictments. After a stormy hearing, however,
Judge Williams upheld the indictment against the principal defendant,
Donald Branch, 25, accused of placing dynamite last February, result-
ing in the blowing up of the home of Don Shoemaker, editor of the
Miami Herald.
Judge Williams did quash the indictments charging possession
of explosives drawn previously against Branch and two other men,
George Victer, 50, an electrician; and Michael Babey, 27, like Branch,
a former employee of the City Water Department. Branch was
remanded for trial on June_ 19, and continued in $25.000 bail. The
indictment negated against him and the two others will be redrawn and
re-filed against all three, Gerstein said. All three men had posted
their high bail bonds. although they earn an average of $305 a month,
the State Attorney said.
All three are accused of being members of the ultra-right-
wing "Minutemen." Branch -is accused of having been also interested
in becoming a member of George Lincoln Rockwell's American Nazi
Party, and of having possessed swastika-emblazoned hate literature.
City - Manager Melvin Reese fired Branch and Babey as soon as they
were arrested.
According to Gerstein, Miami police and the Sheriff's office,
efforts have been under way a long time to probe the unsolved bomb-
ing here of Beth El and Tifereth Israel Congregations. and the threat
to blow up Temple Judea of nearby Coral Gables. Last February,
when the Shoemaker home was bombed, there were anonymous threats
of dynamiting also the home of William Baggs, editor of the Miami
News. Then, last month, police announced that had found five sticks
of dynamite on the lawn in front of Congregation Anshe Emeth.
It turns out now, however, that the "dynamite - in front of
Anshe Emeth consisted really of truncated broom sticks planted there
by the police undercover man, Stefan Plumacher. The latter, a trusted
policeman, is 26 years of age, and was born in Germany. He had been
Soviet Embassy Denies Charges of
Persecution of Jews in the USSR
WASHINGTON, (JTA)—The Soviet Embassy here-released the text of a letter
purportedly signed by "five prominent Soviet Jews," denying charges of Kremlin-
inspired mistreatment of Russian Jewry. The letter, written to the Russian Novosti
press agency, said the five were acting because they "have read with indignation the
allegations in the Western press about an anti-Semitic campaign in the USSR."
The Embassy stated it was issuing the letter specifically in response to charges
of Russian anti-Semitism made recently by U.S. Senator Jacob K. Javits. However,
the same charges have been made widely and reported for many months.
"We declare before all the world: The Soviet Jews need no 'protectors' or
`patrons'." the letter stated, adding: "an objective observer- cannot but admit that
there is no Jewish problem in the Soviet Union." Asserting that Soviet citizens of
Jewish nationality constitute a part of the entire Soviet people. the letter alleged that
"the Soviet State takes care of the Jewish population in the same way as it does
Soviet citizens of any other nationality." It cited these "facts":
•
"The Jewish population of the Soviet Union as of the 1959 census was 2,268,000."
Of the almost 2,400,000 undergraduates turned out by Soviet institutions of higher
learning, there were 77,177 Jews. There are currently 427,000 Jews in the
Soviet
Union who are "specialists with higher and secondary specialized education in the
Soviet economy." Soviet scientific workers include 33,529 Jews.
The letter said also that, although the Jews of the Soviet Union make 11
percent of the total population, they constitute "14.7 percent of all Soviet doctors,
8.5 percent of all writers .and journalists, 10.4 percent of all jurists, and seven percent
workers" in such fields as acting, music, and other forms of art.
The letter asserted that "Jews take an- active part not only in the development
of the Soviet economy and culture, but also in running the state." It said that, in
1961. there were 7,623 Jews elected as deputies of "the local organs of the Soviet
government." In addition, it said that "there are Jews among the deputies of the
Supreme Soviets of the Ukraine, Byelorussia, Lithuania and other republics, as well
as =Se USSR Supreme Soviet."
It said also that "the Jewish religion is not persecuted in the USSR," but
is
"placed in the same conditions as any other religion."
The letter was signed by Z. Vendorf, a writer; Prof. Boris Eidelman, master
of laws: composer Lev Pulver; Prof. Iosof Braginsky, editor in chief of the magazine,
"The Peoples of Asia and Africa"; and Prof. Ilya Strashun, a member of the USSR
Academy of Medical Sciences.
( An editorial in the New York Times, referring to the letter, pointed out that
"these data. however. do not meet the specific questions raised in the West." The
editorial asked: "Why are Jews not permitted to have matzos at Passover? Why has
such p - minence been given to Jewish criminals in the Soviet press in recent months,
though no corresponding prominence is given to the important role Soviet Jews play
in their country's scientific, medical, literary and legal life? And why are
Jews treated worse than other Soviet minorities when it comes to freedom to Soviet
express
their cultural interests in the traditional language of Soviet Jews, Yiddish?")
Continued on Page 13
'louse Action Condemns Arab
Boycott Against .Jews of U.S. ;
Anti-Israel cUN Policy Assailed
WASHINGTON. (JTA)—The House Committee on Foreign Affairs
unanimously adopted a resolution, introduced by Democratic Congress-
man Leonard Farbstein. of New York. requiring the Secretary of State
to report annually to the Congress on measures taken by this govern-
ment to counter discrimination against American citizens by foreign
powers. The measure is aimed at breaking the Arab boycott against
American Jews. and is applicable to all funds appropriated by the
U.S.A. under its aid programs.
The closed-door committee vote on the resolution. which reiterates'
that discrimination against Americans on the "basis of race, color or
religion is repugnant to our principles." was 22-0.
Rep. Farbstein, a member of the House Foreign Affairs -Committee,
offered his resolution as an amendment to the Mutual Security Act.
It will be incorporated into the House version of the U.S. Foreign Aid
Bill, when it is reported out to the full House. The Senate Foreign
Relations Committee, which has not completed its version of the Foreign
Aid Bill, reportedly has no similar provision.
In a statement following the vote, Rep. Farbstein hailed the com-
mittee action as "the most stringent declaration yet made by Congress
in connection with discrimination against United States citizens." He
said endorsement of his amendment "serves notice again on the Admin-
istration, and on all branches of the Executive, that Congress feels
keenly about and is disturbed over a situation which has continually
been glossed over. The members of the House Committee on Foreign
Affairs have again spoken clearly and forcefully in opposition to an
intolerable situation which makes second-class citizens of some Ameri-
cans."
'Tviro more Congressional voices have been added to criticism of
the United States sponsorship of the recent United Nations Security
Council resolution censuring Israel.
In a speech on the House floor, Republican Congressman Milton W.
Glenn, of New Jersey, said "the resolution was contrary to the facts,
which indicated a heavy build-up of Soviet-made weapons by Syrian
forces along the frontier area." He told the House be is joining in
the request made by several other House members that Secretary of
State Dean Rusk be asked to furnish a complete report "with respect
to the motivation and underlying reasons for the sponsorship by this
country of the resolution."
In a speech at Revere, Mass., Democratic
Congressman Torbert
Continued on Page 13
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