Evening star., 1948-08-24
u. ). Consul General
Protests kidnapping Of
Emp|oye in Jerusalem
Confidential Consulate
Clerk Mistreuted by
Stern Gone Abductors
BY the Associoted Press

| JERUSALEM, Aug. 24.-The
American Consul General here
has protested to the Jewish Gov
ernor of Jerusalem that the
Stern gang kidnapped and mis-
treated an American Consulate
employe Sunday.
The consul general, John J. Nc
Donald, said the Sternists seized
George F. Paro, a confidential clerk
in the consulate and held him for
seven hours, during which they
handcuffed, blindfolded, slapped
and questioned him.
An Israeli Army source said the
Sternists kidnapped Mr.. Paro and
called him damn British spy
because he bears a faint resem-
blance to British detective who
left Palestine four months ago.
Held 9 Hours by Police.
After Mr.. Paro, a 33-year -old res
ident of Granville, N. Y, was re-
leased by the Sternists he was held
for another nine hours by Israeli
military police. Asked why the
army had held him so long, a
spokesman replied:
ITO clear up such a mystery in
nine hours is not bad police work"
Mr.. Macdonald said he had filed
a full report of the incident with
the State Department and had
sent a strongly worded protest to
DR.. Bernard Joseph. the Jewish mil
itary governor in Jerusalem.
He demanded an investigation and
appropriate apologies" and told
DR.. Joseph:
In reporting this matter to my
Government 1 pointed out that this
case is indicative of the inability
of the military government to con-
troll the situation in Jerusalem and
afford the usual protection expected
against terrorist organizations
The Stern Gang, an extremist
underground organization during
the British mandate, joined the
Israeli Army inside the state, of
Israel, but continues to operate un-
derground in Jerusalem.
Accepted Ride Home.
Mr.. MacDonalds story of the in
cident was as follows:
Mr.. Paro struck up an acquaint-
ance with man and woman in a
cafe early Sunday morning. The
man offered to drive him home and
Mr. Paro accepted. The woman dis
appeared and a second man took
her place. The first man explained
he wanted to drive the other home
first and Mr.. Paro agreed.
After driving for a time the two
men told Mr.. Paro to get out. A
third man. in uniform, appeared
and snapped handouts on Mr.. Paro
under the guise of shaking hands.
He slapped me across the face
and called me damn British spy >
Mr.. Paro said.
There were about a dozen others
standing around, most of them in
nondescript uniforms. They took
me in the room of a building and
blindfolded me with a cheap brown
scarf and told me to sit on the
floor"
ACCUSED Him AS Briton.
For an hour, he said, they cursed
him, accused him of being British.
insulted him and then began queS-
tioning him
They asked me if I had any
Arab friends and all about my vaca-
ton two weeks ago when visited
Beirut, Damascus and Amman
Then one of them told me in a
Peter LORE monotone: If our in
vestigation fails to bear out what
you've told us, you'll be shot like a
British spy tomorrow morning"
tMr. Paro, a veteran of World
War II. and a former weekly
newspaper employe in Granville
and hotel employe in New York,
was on temporary assignment in
tSee PALESTINE, Page A-4)