Israeli officials here today declined to indicate whether Israel, would approve Rolf Pauls, a West German career diplomat, as his country’s ambassador to Israel, after a statement yesterday in Boan by Chancelior Ludwig Erhard taking a firm position over Israel’s reported objections to the choice of Pauls, a career officer in the German army during World War II.
The Bonn Government’s nomination of the West German envoy is expected to be submitted to Israel this week and officials here expressed hope that any diplomatic embarrassment would be avoided. It was reported that Israel had also picked an envoy but that final steps were stalled until the matter was clarified.
At a press conference in Bonn yesterday, Chancellor Erhard, without mentioning names, said that military service by a German was not grounds “for discriminating against him.” Dr. Pauls was cited, as a career officer under Hitler, for service during the war on the Eastern front where he lost an arm. He was not a member of the Nazi Party. Dr. Ernard said yesterday that he had chosen an envoy but that he would not announce his name until Israel had accepted him.
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.
