West German Chancellor Ludwig Erhard declared today that his Government had weighed fully its decision to offer diplomatic recognition to Israel and that this had been the right answer to the “crisis provoked by the Egyptian Chief of State.” President Nasser.
The Chancellor reported on the tumultuous Middle East situation at a meeting of the Christian Democratic faction in the Bundestag, the West German Parliament lower house. The party members met to discuss the burning of the West German Embassy in Baghdad as a protest against the West German decision to recognize Israel.
(A mob of 10,000 Arab students attacked and burned part of the West German Embassy in Baghdad, Iraq, today in protest against the impending German exchange of diplomatic relations with Israel. Unconfirmed reports from Tripoli said that several Arab students were killed in anti-German riots in Tripoli, the Libyan capital. There were confirmed reports that a school was burned and several students injured.)
The West German Chancellor criticized “inadequate” security measures for protection of the Embassy in Baghdad and strongly protested the attack. But, he added, West Germany would try to maintain relations with the Arab countries. He noted that previously the Arab countries had considered West German delivery of arms to Israel as the crucial issue and now, suddenly, Bonn’s proposed diplomatic ties with Israel had become the main issue.
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