Argentine and Israel to Set New Date on Shazar’s Visit to Buenos Aires

The Foreign Ministries of Argentina and Israel will soon issue a joint statement about the projected visit of Israeli President Zalman Shazar to Argentina in which the exact date of the visit will be given, Foreign Minister Nicanor Costa Mendez told the press here today.

The visit originally had been scheduled to begin July 4 but was temporarily postponed by Israeli officials after the July 1 ouster by the military of President Illia and his replacement by Gen. Ongania as President. Israel recognized the new regime last week.

President Shazar, who is currently resting in Punta Del Este in Uruguay, a famous sea resort, met today with a group of Argentine Jewish leaders who flew to the resort to meet him. The Argentine Jewish leaders greeted him on behalf of Argentine Jewry. The President thanked his visitors and asked them to extend to Argentine Jewry his best wishes.

Among the leaders were Emilio Gutkin, chairman of the Argentine Zionist Organization, Dr. Tobias Kamenszain, president of the Buenos Aires Jewish community Gregorio Faigon, vice-president of the DAIA, the central representative body of Argentine Jewry; Nachman Radzichowski, vice-president of the Argentine Zionist Actions Committee; Abraham Mittelberg, secretary of the Argentine Zionist Organization, and Hirsch Triwaks, general secretary of the Buenos Aires Jewish community.

(In Washington, the State Department declared today that the report submitted by the American embassy in Buenos Aires proves that the arrest of people connected to the credit union cooperatives, among whom were a number of Jews, was not caused by anti-Semitic trends. Officials in the American Embassy had talks with members of the Jewish community in Argentina who supported the conclusion that there were no anti-Semitic motives in the arrest of Jewish merchants, the State Department communication said.)