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France to Back Israel on Passage Through Suez Canal

June 9, 1959
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The French Government’s position parallels Israel’s in regard to the United Arab Republic’s halting of the Danish freighter, Inge Toft, which had attempted to carry an Israeli cargo through the Suez Canal. This fact was learned here today from reliable sources, who said that it seems clear that France would support Israel, should Israel take the issue to the United Nations.

These sources hold that the Government of the United Arab Republic has no right to block the movement of ships through the Canal. Their view was supported today by the influential daily newspaper Le Monde in a front-page editorial. Le Monde warns the West that the U. A. R. may be trying to rally Arab states behind Gamal Abdel Nasser “at Israel’s expense.” It draws attention to the fact that conflicts among Arab states do not favor the West and visualizes that “sooner or later, the Arab states will reunite against the West.”

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