A series of anti-Israel steps in Algeria were predicted here today as a result of Algeria’s becoming a full member of the Arab League. It was feared that Algeria may follow Morocco’s example in cutting off postal communications with Israel. However, the number of Jews now left in Algeria is so small that such a move would hardly affect the remaining Jews in the country.
Approval of Algeria’s becoming a full member of the Arab League was voted by the League’s Council. The Algerian move in joining the Arab body came as no surprise, since three of the new country’s strongest political leaders with pro-Egyptian sympathies — Vice Premier Ahmed Ben Bella, former chief of staff Boumiedenne and Mohammed Khidder — had been pressing for Algerian admission to the League.
Sen. Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican, today said in a broadcast originating here that he “would have hoped that the Israelis could have returned Robert Soblen” but he thought “on the whole, Americans understand the problem as far as Israel is concerned, although we’re not too happy about it.”
Sen. Javits pointed out that Israeli opposition parties “took advantage” of the Soblen case “to latch on to an issue which was very disturbing to their government.” He noted that Israel does not have an extradition treaty with the United States. He found it “pretty difficult to understand why our own people didn’t watch this fellow on the plane from Israel carefully enough, but let him use a knife with which he cut himself.”
The Senator said he was nevertheless confident Soblen would be ultimately returned to the United States.
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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.
