Israel’s Cabinet ratified here today, at its regular weekly meeting, the extradition treaty between the United States and Israel signed recently in Washington by United States Secretary of State Dean Rusk and Israel’s Ambassador, Avraham Harman.
Under the terms of the treaty, 31 extraditable offenses are listed. Because Israel has abolished the death penalty–except in a case like that of the late Adolf Eichmann–Israel may refuse, under the terms of the pact, to hand over a person who faces “the maximum penalty” unless Israel is guaranteed that the death penalty will not be invoked in the U. S. A. in that case.
The treaty also provides the right of non-extradition for persons charged with political offenses if one of the parties considers the offense political or if the wanted person proves that the offense charged against him is “in fact political. ” Israel has similar extradition treaties with Italy, France, Britain, Belgium, Switzerland, Luxembourg, The Netherlands, Austria and South Africa.
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