The Israel Government is taking all appropriate steps to secure the release of the Israeli sailor Raphael Eylon-Nelson detained by the Egyptian authorities aboard the Danish freighter Brigitte Toft when it stopped at Suez yesterday en route through the Suez Canal to Haifa, it was announced here tonight by a government spokesman.
A spokesman for the Foreign Ministry here today ridiculed the Egyptian charges that the Israeli sailor was arrested because he was photographing the shores of Suez. “We now know that the charge is baseless,” the spokesman said, adding that this information was received a few hours ago from the captain of the Brigitte Toft who informed the charterers that although the Israeli sailor had a camera, he did not use it in the Suez Canal. The arrested Israeli is a member of the Israel Seamen’s Union.
The spokesman said that even if the arrested sailor were released Israel will make the strongest possible protest to the United Nations against the Egyptian action. The Foreign Ministry, he stated, has instructed the Israeli delegation to protest on two points: holding up the ship and arresting the Israeli sailor.
Israeli officials maintain that the very act of stopping the ship and inspecting the cargo is a violation of the freedom of passage Egypt claims it respects. They asserted that Egypt has no right to search ships in the Suez Canal. They also pointed out that by arresting and interrogating Raphael Eylon-Nelson, who is the holder of a regular sailor’s pass, Egypt has committed a “grave violation” of international law.
(Upon urgent instructions from Jerusalem Mr. Arthur Livran, acting head of the Israeli delegation to the United Nations, called tonight upon UN Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold and submitted to him a letter of protest about the unlawful arrest of the Israeli sailor by Egyptian authorities.)
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