Some 1000 persons attended ceremonies here marking the official opening of the Hebraica Civic Center, a 3500-seat sports arena that will also serve as a center for mass meetings. Laudo Natel, Governor of the State of Sao Paulo, officiated at the dedication and brought with him his Arab secretary. The first sports event, arranged especially for this occasion, was a basketball and volley ball tournament between the national teams of Brazil, Italy, Czechoslovakia and Mexico. Press and television was out in full force to cover the event.
Hebraica is one of the largest Jewish clubs in South America with a membership of some 25,000 of Sao Paulo’s total Jewish population of 60,000. The sports arena, which took three years to build, is open to the public, unlike the club itself, and is the largest sports arena in the city outside the municipal arena.
Despite the recent murder by Palestinian terrorists in Khartoum of one Belgian and two American diplomats, Sudanese President Gaafar Numeiry said in London his country will continue to support the Palestinians against Israel. Speaking at a press conference during his official visit, Numetry termed the Khartoum incident “unforgiveable” and promised that the perpetrators would be rigorously dealt with. He did not indicate when their trial would begin.
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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.