Israel today reaffirmed its support for United Nations resolution condemning South Africa’s policy of apartheid, and assured the UN that it has taken steps to bar the shipment of Israeli arms, ammunition or strategic materials to South Africa, “directly or indirectly.”
The Israeli Government’s position was stated in reply to a letter sent to all member-states by the UN’s Special Committee on the Policies of Apartheid. The letter requested governmental statements on the general issue.
Israel’s Government, the reply stated, “has noted with deep concern the further deterioration in the situation” in South Africa. The Israeli letter noted that “the people of Israel have a deep abhorrence of all forms of discrimination on grounds of race, color or religion, deriving from age-old spiritual values as well as from lengthy and tragic historical experience.”
In addition to barring Israeli arms to South Africa, the letter declared, the Israel Government is “at present actively considering the taking of further measures as part of the general effort of member states of the United Nations, aimed at bringing about the abandonment of the policies of apartheid by the Government of South Africa.”
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