The British Government was urged today to intervene with the United States against action by Arab propagandists in the U.S. who have been spreading boycott propaganda against British firms dealing with Israel, it was also asked to take other concrete action to end the Arab states boycott of British shipping or other business firms which deal with Israel or firms whose executives or shareholders are Jews.
In all cases, Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd responded that the government would like more specific information about the cases cited before doing anything concrete. He also reiterated the British Government’s opposition to such Arab activities and said the government had made this position clear to the Arab states on a number of occasions.
Labor MP Kenneth Robinson charged that Kamel Abdel Rahim. Yemen representative to the United Nations, was directing the Arab Boycott Committee’s actions against British firms trading with Israel from the Arab information Center in New York. He charged that the office had an annual income of $4,000,000 which was chiefly obtained from American oil companies. He asked that representations against Rahim’s activities be made in Washington.
Another Laborite asked the government to “back to the hilt” British ships which were discriminated against by the Arab states because they carried cargoes to Israel Mr. Lloyd retorted that there were very few such ships that went through the Suez Canal and that he wanted information about any such cases. He also asked for information confidentially given, about British firms who suffered from Arab discrimination because of the race or religion of their personnel or owners.
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