Cabinet Minister Yosef Shapira insisted before he left for South Africa on Thursday that his trip would not violate the government’s decision last year to strictly limit its contacts with the Pretoria regime.
Shapira, a member of the National Religious Party who holds no portfolio, said his visit would be confined to the South African Jewish community and its purpose is to promote immigration to Israel, which is vital to the state.
He said he would not meet officially with any member of the South African government, whose apartheid policies are anathema to Israel.
But Shapira admitted that he might have a chance meeting with officials attending events marking Israel’s 40th anniversary.
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.
