France, Israel strain

Press, 4 August 1977, Page 8

France, Israel strain

NZPA-Reutet Jerusalem

Prospects for improved relations between Israel and France appeared to be dashed yesterday after Israel angrily protested against a French Government move effectively allowing French firms to comply with the Arab boycott of the Jewish State.

The Israeli Foreign Minister (Mr Moshe Dayan) accused France of “a hostile act” by excluding the Arab boycott from a law banning economic discrimination against other countries.

Franco-Israeli relations were badly damaged in [January when a French

court released from custody Abu Daoud, a Palestinian suspected of planning the guerrilla attack on Israeli athletes during the 1972 Olympic Games in West Germany.

Since then a visit to Israel by the French Foreign Minister (Mr Louis de Guirirgaud) appeared to have patched up relations, but observers in Paris said that links between the two countries had been put under new strain by the Government’s move.

The Israeli protest marked a serious blow to hopes — expressed by the Israeli Prime Minister (Mr Menachem Begin) after his elec-

tion victory in May — for better relations between the two.

French officials in Paris said that the French Prime Minister (Mr Raymond Barre) issued an official note on July 24 under which the country’s anti-boycott law would not apply to a key Government-linked firm which gives most export credit guarantees for major French firms. “We cannot but consider this a hostile act against Israel and expect the French Government to correct it without delay,” Mr Dayan told the Knesset (Parliament).