Two thousand persons this week-end heard President Juan Peron announce that a commercial treaty between Israel and Argentina will be signed next week. The announcement was made at a celebration marking the third anniversary of the establishment of the Organizacion Israelita Argentina, pro-Peronist Jewish group.
President Peron also suggested that in return for the planting of a forest in honor of Grau San Martin, Argentine national hero, in Israel by the O.I.A., a forest ought to be planted in Argentina in honor of President Chaim Weizmann of Israel. The funds for this project, he said, could be collected from among the Argentine people.
The President was cheered when he stated: “I love the Jewish citizens as all other Argentines and I hope that the coming treaty will be the first stage toward further agreements between the two peoples.” His wife, Eva, received a similar ovation when she announced that there is no discrimination shown in the application of social welfare programs which she administers.
O.I.A. leaders, who addressed the audience, said that no other statesman had found “such friendly words for the Jows.” Jacobo Feuerman of the local HIAS organization lauded Peron for his return–after two decades–to the traditional Argentine policy of free immigration. Among the guests were Israel Minister Jacob Tsur, the local chief of police and many government and Jewish community leaders.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
