The state-owned airline Air France avoids mentioning Israel and its connections with that country in a promotional booklet just printed titled “Air France Serves the Businessman.” The booklet, which is being widely distributed, describes in detail the services and help Air France offers in North and South America, the Far East and the Middle East. A smaller brochure deals with the Middle East under the title “Advice for Middle East Business.” In neither of these publications is Israel mentioned.
An Air France spokesman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the company has two separate advertising campaigns: one for the oil-producing countries and the other for Israel. The spokesman said. “We keep the two areas separate so as to avoid possible repercussions.” The spokesman added that Air France has an intensive advertising campaign for its Israel flights and works in cooperation with the Israeli airline El Al.
Meanwhile, a Gaullist member of Parliament. Claude Gerard Marcus, has asked French Transport Minister, Marcel Cavaille, to investigate whether the omission of Israel is not due to Arab boycott threats. Marcus, a Jew who represents a Paris district, also asked the Minister whether he considers this “normal in view of Franco-Israeli relations.” Air France runs a twice daily service to Israel and has started using one of its newest and largest planes, the “Airbus” on this route.
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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.
