A newly discovered telegram sent by the Lubavitcher Rebbe, Rabbi Menachem Mendel Schneerson, to US President Dwight D. Eisenhower following the 1956 terror attack in Kfar Chabad is drawing renewed attention amid a week of deadly antisemitic violence, including the mass shooting at a Chanuka celebration at Sydney’s Bondi Beach.
The telegram, dated April 16, 1956, was written five days after Arab terrorists opened fire on a Chabad school in Kfar Chabad during evening prayers, killing five students and their teacher. The message had not previously been widely circulated.
In the telegram, the Rebbe described the attack as a “cold-blooded massacre of Jewish children at prayer” and appealed directly to Eisenhower to use American influence to prevent further attacks and to protect Jewish religious and educational institutions in Israel. Writing on behalf of the global Chabad movement, the Rebbe framed the attack as a moral issue that “must arouse every decent human being,” calling for immediate and effective action rather than expressions of sympathy alone.
The document has resurfaced at a time when Jewish communities worldwide are facing renewed security concerns. Over the past week, 15 people were murdered in an Islamist terror attack targeting a Chanuka event at Bondi Beach. In the United Kingdom, police announced stricter enforcement against chants such as “globalize the intifada,” citing recent attacks in Sydney and Manchester that underscored the real-world consequences of incitement.
