|
blimit to what the USSR could take without breaking rela- btions and destroying the détente both they and Washington bwanted so badly. This Moscow knew, this Washington knew, band this the JDL knew. And so this was the strategy of bviolence; this was the political logic of the JDL violence. And bit succeeded. bI told Ambassador Yost that it was in his hands to put an bend to the JDL violence and that the price was Soviet Jewry. bI made it clear that there would be no end to attacks on the bSoviets and to the threat to détente until this price was paid. bI left him with that message and with little doubt that it bwould be transmitted to the State Department in Washing- bton and from there to the proper Soviet officials. bThe campaign never stopped. Learning that the Soviets bowed $49,913 in taxes which they refused to pay the city of bGlen Cove, Long Island, on their summer mansion known bas Killenworth, JDL announced that it would buy the tax blien for that amount and take over the 36-acre estate. bNaturally, we had no intention of buying the place since we bdid not have $4,000 in the bank at the time, but the publicity bwas aimed at reinforcing, in the public’s mind, the refusal of bthe Russians to pay their debts. It also gave us a chance to bvisit the place, which we did, on July 27, and spent an hour bspraying stars of David and gaudy anti-Soviet slogans on the bgatepost, the driveway, and inside the grounds. bWhen the police arrived we were arrested and waited two bhours before being informed that the Russians would not bpress charges. Glen Cove Mayor Andrew J. DiPaola sent a bhasty letter of apology to the Russians and asked them to bexpress his “deepest regrets to Ambassador Jacob Malik.” bJDL had no time for apologies since that same day it bannounced plans for a 100-mile march to begin August 16th bat Independence Hall in Philadelphia and to culminate in a bdemonstration at the White House on August 23. Bertram bZweibon, co-founder and general counsel of the JDL, pro- bclaimed the theme of the march to be: “President Nixon, byou can free Soviet Jewry and you can stop Soviet aggression bin the Middle East.” The march was part of an ever-more bdesperate effort to spotlight not only the general Soviet b
|
|