Steadily deteriorating relations between Israel and Rumania has led the Israel Government to recall its Minister in Bucharest, it is reliably learned today.
Government spokesmen confirmed that the Minister, Reuven Rubin, will return shortly to Tel Aviv, but denied that his recall has any special significance. They also denied the post will be left vacant for some time, but admitted that no successor to Mr. Rubin has been selected.
However, it has been reliably learned from other sources that the Israel legation in Bucharest will be left in the hands of a charge d’affaires and the Minister’s post will be left unfilled for some time. This move is a gesture of protest by the Israel Government against Rumanian restrictions on Jewish emigration, the steady increase of anti-Zionist propaganda in Rumania and the persecution of Rumanian Zionist leaders.
Unofficially, it is also learned that the Israel Government is deeply offended by the Rumanian appointment of Paul Davidovici — a violent anti-Zionist and leading member of the Communist-dominated Jewish Democratic Committee — as charge d’affaires of the Rumanian legation in Tel Aviv. Davidovici arrived in Israel last month in the absence of a Rumanian Minister who has been named but has not yet arrived.
Mr. Rubin first went to Bucharest last December. He visited Tel Aviv in the late Spring for government consultations, returning to Rumania a little more than four weeks ago. His efforts to convince the Rumanian Government of the desirability of reversing or altering its policy of restricting Jewish emigration to Israel has apparently failed. His brief return to Bucharest was for one last try.
The Jewish community in Rumania, numbering about 350,000, is the largest in Europe today. Judging by the number of applications made in Bucharest for Israel visas, a large majority of the Jews there are anxious to leave Rumania. But the Rumanian authorities allow only small groups to leave and those only aged and infirm. Moreover, for each Jew that is permitted to depart, the Jewish Agency pays the Rumanian Government a specified amount in dollars.
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