Kuwait, doubly devastated by six months of Iraqi occupation and the seven-week Persian Gulf war, is still demanding that firms submitting bids for work in that country include statements that they are not Jewish and do not employ Jews, according to Israeli officials.
The issue arises now particularly as Kuwait seeks to reconstruct its war-torn country.
The allegation that Kuwait is still asking for the affirmation of non-Jewish participation in work in the country was made by Israel’s ambassador to the Netherlands, Micha Bawly, at a meeting of the Collective Israel Appeal, as the United Israel Appeal is known in Holland.
Bawly said the bids must state that-no Jew sits on the bidding company’s board, is part of its management or an employee. That was a condition of doing business with Kuwait before the war and remains so today, the envoy said.
There have been hopes expressed since the war that Kuwait, faced with the same menace from Iraq as Israel and benefitting from U.S. troops, which even included some Jews, would change its position.
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.
