The fine training and discipline of the Israeli soldiers “must bear fruit if it is ever put to the test, ” Sir Francis Evans, British Ambassador to Israel, declared here last night at a reception tendered in his honor by the Zionist Federation of Great Britain and the British section of the Keren Hayesod.
Sir Francis told the assembled Zionist leaders that from the moment he stepped on Israel’s soil he felt at home. He said he had been surprised during his 28 months of service in Israel to find no bitterness against Britain and stressed that he had never met anything but the greatest friendliness in the Jewish State.
He said that an observer could not help but be fascinated by the “remarkable sociological developments” taking place in Israel nor could he fail to be moved by the reception of immigrants from all over the world, a reception unequalled anywhere else in the world. The British Ambassador had high praise for the leaders of the State of Israel whom he called selfless in their devotion to duty. He added that he felt that the most impressive experience of all in Israel was to see the treatment given the children, the “great investment for the future.”
Sir Francis spoke highly of Eliahu Elath, Israel Ambassador in London, who was present at the reception. Ambassador Elath, for his part, paid tribute to the tactful, sympathetic and understanding manner in which Sir Francis had served in Israel.
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