Ambassador Kenneth Keating, the new United States Ambassador to Israel, met with Foreign Minister Abba Eban in the latter’s office this morning. A Foreign Ministry spokesman said they discussed international issues, particularly the forthcoming meeting of the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) in Rome next week to seek means to curb aerial piracy and terrorist acts against air travellers.
According to the spokesman, Eban referred to Israel’s Aug. 10 interception of a Lebanese airliner believed to have terrorist leaders aboard for which Israel was unanimously condemned by the UN Security Council last week.
He said that incident was a result of the international community’s indifference to aerial terrorism and direct fruits of the world’s hesitation to react against the encouragement the Arab states have given terrorists. He said that any one-sided expressions against Israel at the Rome ICAO meeting would be a severe injustice.
Keating noted that the U.S. government wanted to prevent further escalation of international reaction against Israel. He said there was an urgent need to find means to prevent terrorist activity against civil aviation. The Ambassador presented a copy of his credentials to Eban. He will formally present his credentials to President Ephraim Katzir on Aug. 28.
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