Indications that the Israeli Government will accept West Germany’s nomination of Dr. Rolf Pauls, a former German army officer, as Bonn’s first Ambassador to Israel were seen here today, following discussion of the Pauls issue at a Cabinet meeting.
Although there has been articulate opposition in some sections of the Israeli press and in Parliament against Bonn’s naming of a former German army officer to the envoy’s post, the Cabinet decided to leave action on the matter to the Foreign Ministry. Parliament’s Foreign Affairs and Security Committee voted last week to voice neither approval nor rejection regarding the Pauls nomination. The Foreign Ministry has said that, as far as it knew, Dr. Pauls was not a Nazi and had even worked against the Nazis. With the Cabinet taking a neutral stand, it was believed that acceptance of Pauls is now a certainty.
The German Ambassador is expected to arrive here by the end of this month. Israel’s Ambassador to Bonn, Asher Ben-Natan, former director-general of the Ministry of Defense, is expected to go to Bonn by the middle of August. A demonstration against Paul’s designation was staged today in front of the office of Prime Minister Levi Eshkol. The protest was conducted by about 200 members of Hashomer Hatzair, a left-wing movement.
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.
