Premier Yitzhak Rabin issued a strong denial today of reports that he was planning to replace Ambassador Simcha Dinitz in Washington. A statement from the Prime Minister’s Office said the replacement of Dinitz “has not been and is not being considered. On the contrary, the Ambassador enjoys the full confidence of the Prime Minister and is carrying out his task with efficiency, loyalty and devotion,” Rabin’s statement said.
The statement re-enforced the laudatory remarks about Dinitz made by Foreign Minister Yigal Allon in New York Sunday, apparently in response to the same rumors. (See JTA Daily News Bulletin of Oct. 1) Allon also defended U.S. Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger against allegations that he was putting untoward pressure on Israel for concessions to the Arabs.
Speculation that Dinitz would be removed from his Washington post to which he was appointed by former Premier Golda Meir arose after published reports in the U.S. claimed that the Israeli envoy had been misled and exploited by Kissinger during the Yom Kippur War. The reports alleged that Kissinger had restrained American Jewish leaders and pro-Israel Senators from pressing the Administration to speed up arms supplies to Israel
The reports in the U.S. gave rise to reports in the Israeli press that Dinitz was under the influence of Kissinger to an extent that impaired the discharge of his duties as envoy. According to some of these reports, Kissinger sought to link Israel’s critical wartime arms needs to an undertaking by American Jews to abandon their support of the Jackson Amendment. These charges have been denied both here and in Washington.
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.
