Wherever There Is Jewish Pain

291

bThe Soviets bitterly filed yet another protest with the State bDepartment; this had been the second serious bombing of a bRussian office within a week. A heavy explosion had rocked bthe Soviet trade delegation building in Amsterdam, Hol- bland, injuring four Soviet officials and causing an estimated b$140,000 damage. Once again a message was found: “Never bAgain! Let my people go!” In response to the bombing of bAmtorg, Mayor Lindsay (again) described the incident as an b“outrage to every New Yorker” and US Ambassador to the bUnited Nations, George Bush, called on Yakov Malik to bexpress his regrets, later telling reporters he was “damned bupset. This kind of outrageous action must stop.”

bOn April 24, the clearest indication of all that efforts to bthreaten relations between the United States and the Soviets bwere bearing fruit was seen as an angry note was delivered bby the Russians to the US Government. In the words of The bNew York Times, the Soviet Government underscored the bserious view it was taking of the situation by lodging the bprotest at a high level. It had just summoned US Ambas- bsador Jacob D. Beam to the Foreign Ministry to receive the bprotest note, which was handed over by Vasily V. Kuznet- bsov, the First Deputy Foreign Minister. The note warned of bthe deterioration in relations between the two countries:

b“International law and the norms of behavior accepted in bcivilized society obligate governments to insure normal bconditions for the functioning of foreign diplomatic and bother missions. Failure to observe this rule cannot be other- bwise regarded than the reluctance of one state to maintain bnormal relations with another state.” This thinly veiled bthreat was echoed the same day by the newspaper Pravda, bwhich demanded “the most decisive measures against those bwho commit dangerous provocations which could harm bnormal relations between the two states.” The Times, in a bWashington dispatch, stated that State Department officials b“privately conceded that activities against Soviet diplomats band offices in this country were becoming a ‘complicated bproblem.’”

bOne of the reasons for the violent campaign against the bSoviets on the part of Jewish militants was the effort to let b