Bonn Asked by Israel to Remove German Nuclear Scientists from Egypt

The Israeli authorities have been in direct contact, recently, with the German Government, in efforts to get Bonn to take steps to remove German scientists from participation in the Egyptian program for development of non-conventional weapons, reliable sources here said today. The contacts have been carried on in Germany through Israel’s Purchasing Mission at Cologne, and have been pursued in this country through high-ranking German visitors.

Israeli authorities, it was learned, are considering public issuance of details about the activities of nearly 400 German scientists, engineers and expert technicians now at work in Egypt for the perfection of non-conventional weapons to be used against Israel.

Haaretz, leading independent morning newspaper in Israel, reported today that Egyptian President Gamal Abdel Nasser has earmarked several million dollars as prizes for German scientists, as an incentive toward completion of work in rocket development and in the perfection of an electronic guidance system for missiles. Meanwhile, according to the report, work is already proceeding in Egypt for the preparation of missile warheads using radioactive waste.

There are hopes in authoritative circles here that disclosure of the Egyptian projects being advanced by German scientists might influence public opinion in Germany and assist in obtaining official German Government pressure on the German scientists toward their withdrawal from the Egyptian programs.

German Government circles are understood to have said that they have no legal means for controlling the activities of their citizens abroad. They point out that they have succeeded in getting Prof. Eugen Saenger, the German scientist who headed Egypt’s rocket program which launched a missile last year, to return to Germany. They say that “several other scientists” have also returned from Egypt.