An El Al 707 jet landed here yesterday inaugurating the first direct airline service between Israel and Mexico. The plane brought Israeli Transportation Minister Gad Yaacobi who was greeted at the airport by his Mexican counterpart. Transport Minister Eugenio Mendez Docurro, and the Minister of Tourism, Julio Hirschfield Almada.
In a press conference at the airport, Docurro observed that friendly nations occasionally have some differences but these cannot harm sincere good relations. Almada spoke of the political economic and cultural importance of direct air service between Mexico and Israel.
Replying to questions, he said the boycott of Mexico by American Jewish tourists is over and about 26,000 Jews from the United States visited Mexico so far this year. The boycott began a year ago when Mexico voted in favor of a resolution in the UN General Assembly equating Zionism with racism.
Yaacobi thanked the Mexican government on behalf of the Israeli government for its cooperation in establishing direct air service and expressed the hope that the two countries will continue their mutual cooperation in many fields. The El Al jet left here today for Tel Aviv on the return leg of its inaugural flight. The plane will land en route at Montreal and Amsterdam. It is carrying a large number of Mexican officials, members of a special cultural delegation headed by Education Minister Victor Bravo Ahuja who will visit the Weizmann Institute of Science and other Israeli research centers and universities.
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