Mobil Co. Apologizes for Boycott of Israeli, Jewish Products, but Will Continue

The Mobil Shipping Co, has apologized for the contents of a letter barring from its ships “products of Israeli origin or appearing to be of Jewish or Israeli origin.” But the tanker-operating firm, a British subsidiary of the Mobil Oil Corp., made it clear that it will continue to keep such products off its vessels calling at Arab ports. The Mobil letter which went out to ship chandlers in Britain, created a furor in Jewish circles. Michael Fidler, president of the Board of Deputies of British Jews and a Conservative MP, threatened to bring it up in Parliament. “I am shocked,” Fidler said today, “that a firm of Mobil’s standing has succumbed to the boycott. It is most reprehensible and I will ask the government to make it clear that no British firms should be influenced by threats of retaliation and boycott.”

Fidler was reacting to a statement by a Mobil spokesman apologizing for “excessive zeal” in reminding ship chandlers of the Arab boycott of Israel. Mobil tankers with Israeli products among their supplies faced blacklisting and fines at Libyan and other Arab ports. The letter also warned chandlers against supplying Mobil ships with certain brands of Swedish matches and Trinidad beer because the trade marks on the packages resembled the Star of David. The spokesman said, “the word Jewish is the offending one. People had every reason to be upset when they saw it (in the Mobil letter). It was stupid and ill-advised…(but) we had an obligation to obey the law of Libya and to make sure that oil supplies get to this country,” he said. Maurice Orbach, an MP who directs the Trade Advisory Council, made up of Jewish businessmen, said today that “the fact that the word ‘Jewish’ has been deleted makes no difference. It is discrimination.”