Israeli Legation Denial

Press, Volume XCVIII, Issue 28784, 3 January 1959, Page 4

Israeli Legation Denial

The First Secretary of the Israeli Legation in Wellington (Mr Haim Raphael) said in reply to the charges of persecution made by Mr Cunningham, that in endeavouring to establish his accusations, Mr Cunningham had quoted an editorial article by William Zukerman, editor of the “Jewish Newsletter.”

“I regret that neither Mr Zukerman nor the other authors mentioned can be considered objective authorities on questions concerning Israel and its population. They are residents of the United States and have no firsthand knowledge of Israel,” said Mr Raphael. “Mr Cunningham himself states they present ‘the non-Zionist side.* May I say that they are definitely anti-Israel and every reader of ‘The Press* is entitled to doubt their sincerity.** Quoting Mr Zukerman did not disprove Mr Dover’s statement, which in his letter dated September 23, pointed out that Arab and Jewish citizens of Israel were equal under the law and enjoyed the rights and privileges, Mr Raphael said.

“I will not list in this letter the manifold achievements of the Arab community of Israel in the economic sphere, as well as in education, local government, health and social services but, I would like to mention, that since Mr Dover wrote his letter there has been a further relaxation of the restrictions on movement in border areas.”

This had been made possible by the lessening of tension along certain borders during 1957, Mr Raphael said. Every objective observer was bound to admit that in the light of , the present security situation, to mention only recent Syrian attacks, security measures to maintain checks on the movements of population along the frontiers were necessary.

The Israel authorities, however, were anxious to ease those restrictions or even to bring them to an end when a change in relations with its neighbours justified such a step.

Jugoslavia To Have TVz—Jugoslavia now has more than 1,000,000 radio sets—one to every 18 citizens—and it is about to start a regular national TV programme. Only 7500 Jugoslavs now have their own television sets, including President Tito.