Israel today lodged a formal and vigorous protest against Rumania’s expulsion of a member of the Israel Legation in Bucharest. It also protested against the Rumanian Government’s quarantine of Israel’s Legation headquarters in Bucharest.
The Rumanian Government had declared a member of Israel’s Bucharest mission, Amon Keren, as persona non-grata, and has ordered him to leave Rumania. He has been accused of “espionage,” of “spreading Zionist propaganda,” and of alleged dealing in foreign currency and “smuggling of valuables from Rumania.”
This morning, Walter Eytan, director-general of Israel’s Foreign Ministry, summoned the Rumanian Minister here, A. Petremanu, and voiced the twin protests. In regard to Mr. Keren, Israel completely rejected the charges as unfounded, and protested sharply against the expulsion order aimed at a member of its legation.
At the same time, Mr. Eytan took the occasion to express his Government’s “astonishment and protest” against the blockade imposed in Bucharest on Israel’s Legation. He called the blockade a “siege by numerous plainclothes and uniformed policemen, in order to interfere with the contact between members of the Legation and the public.” The interference, said Mr. Eytan, extends to “candidates for immigration and to people seeking consular services.”
Mr. Eytan told the Rumanian Minister that the “siege” against the Bucharest offices is “contrary to normal diplomatic relations.”
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.
