Assassination of UN Mediator – Extracts from letter from Israel

Dual Distribution

EXTRACTS FROM THE REPLY DATED 19 SEPTEMBER 1948 FROM THE

FOREIGN MINISTER OF THE PROVISIONAL GOVERNMENT OF ISRAEL TO

THE MESSAGE (S/1004) DATED 17 SEPTEMBER 1948 FROM RALPH BUNCHE,

PERSONAL REPRESENTATIVE OF THE SECRETARY-GENERAL

(Transmitted for the information of the Security Council)

19 September 1948

I now wish to inform you of the steps taken by the Provisional Government in its efforts to apprehend the assassins and those responsible for the planning of the assassination.

As there seems to be little doubt that the group calling itself Hazit Hamcledet (Fatherland Front), which has acknowledged the authorship of the crime, is an arm of the Dissident Organization Lohamee Herut Israel (Fighters for the Freedom of Israel), the Provisional Government has proceeded to take action against this organization and its members.  Accordingly, some 150 members of LHI were rounded up and arrested in Jerusalem, and over 50 more in Tel Aviv and other localities.  Vigorous investigations are proceeding to probe deeper into the mystery of the crime and discovery of the real culprits.  It is hoped that identification parades, with the help of the eye-witnesses to the crime, may be arranged soon.

At its extraordinary meeting last night, the Government unanimously approved the measures already taken in Jerusalem and elsewhere and decided on the most vigorous prosecution of the investigation and action against LHI.  The Government adopted a special emergency regulation giving it sweeping powers to take action against terrorist organizations, their members and accomplices.  The regulations will be promulgated within a day or two.  Further measures against terrorism and with a view to tracking down the assassins are under consideration, and I will keep you informed of such progress as we achieve.