After he had served Israel as Ambassador to the United States and chief delegate to the United Nations for more than a decade, it was discovered today that Abba Eban was formally not a citizen of Israel. The oversight was remedied immediately by the Ministry of Interior signing a special order granting him citizenship and thus enabling him to run for Knesset.
The oversight was discovered when a check of the election register showed that Mr. Eban was not listed. The unique situation arose from the fact that he had British nationality because of his birth in South Africa. He could hold dual citizenship, but apparently he never thought it necessary to apply formally since he held an Israeli diplomatic passport.
Mr. Eban will not be able to vote in the November elections, in which he will be a candidate, because the qualifying date for voting was last December.
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.
