A top member of the Israel Embassy in Paris was reported today flying to Algeria to explain to local French authorities that the plane forced down at Bone, Algeria, with three tons of arms aboard, was en route to South America.
Even as he left, a French Foreign Ministry spokesman said that the French Governor General of Algeria, Robert La Costet, had ordered a new inquiry into the plane incident, apparently dissatisfied with the results of the first investigation. The Foreign Office spokesman refused further comment until after the end of the new study.
Meanwhile, it was reported here that French military officials in Algeria were attempting to blow up the incident in an attempt to divert the public’s attention from recent incidents in North Africa for which the military was responsible. On the other hand, the French Foreign Office is attempting to close the affair as soon as possible to avoid further embarrassment to Israel.
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