Crew members of the visiting Israeli missile boats Yaffo and Tarshish toured Washington yesterday and today, The speedy craft, in American waters on a Bicentennial good-will mission, are tied up at Baltimore where their 110 officers and crew members were warmly received yesterday by the local Jewish community and Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz. The boats participated in the international Bicentennial maritime tribute in New York harbor July 3-4 and subsequently called at Philadelphia.
On their arrival at Baltimore, Dinitz hailed “This fresh and direct contact from the State of Israel to the people of Baltimore.” At a reception for the sailors later, he referred to the Uganda rescue mission, declaring that “Jewish blood will not remain unavenged anywhere in the world because today there is the State of Israel.”
Joseph Meyerhoff. former president of the Baltimore Associated Jewish Charities, commended Israel’s defense forces for the “daring rescue in Uganda,” and added that “It takes more than conversation and resolutions at the UN to show what it means to live in a free society.”
Mayor William D. Schaefer of Baltimore presented Bicentennial plates and replicas of buttons from George Washington’s uniform to Capt. Eli Rahav of the Israeli Navy who commands the two-boat flotilla. Rahav also received a plaque from Joseph L. Stanton, Administrator of the Baltimore Port Authority.
Rear Admiral Benjamin Belem, who commanded the Israeli Navy during the Yom Kippur War and is presently visiting the U.S., and Hannan Bar-On, a Minister at the Israeli Embassy in Washington, described the capabilities of the missile boats to reporters at a press conference.
Jack Pearlstone, president of the Baltimore Associated Jewish Charities and Welfare Fund noted that the boats were built in Israel to a French design, have West German engines, some British parts and in addition to their Israel-made “Gabriel” surface-to-surface missiles, are armed with Italian guns. Each boat normally carries a crew of 45. Their complement was increased to 55 for the Bicentennial visit.
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