Hundreds of thousands of Israeli Uzzi submachine-guns are in use in 15 countries and the Israel Government could not go any farther than binding purchasers not to re-sell the weapons to a third party, Deputy Defense Minister Shimon Peres stated today in Israel’s Parliament.
He made the statement in reply to motions by Herut and Mapam deputies who asked for a Parliamentary debate over recurrent reports that the Israeli weapons were used by the Portuguese to repress the Angola independence movement.
The question was sent to the Knesset Security and Foreign Affairs Committee but a proviso that the committee act as an inquiry commission to determine whether the machineguns were in fact used by the Portuguese was defeated.
Replying to a report that Uzzis bearing the additional insignia of West Germany were photographed in the hands of Portuguese forces in Mozambique, the defense official cited three formal statements from the West German Government that none of the machineguns it purchased from Israel were re-sold.
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