Veiled hints that potential customers of the automobiles made by the Renault Company of France may retaliate against the decision by Renault to close down Israel operations, under Arab boycott pressures, were printed editorially here today in Davar, the leading pro-Government newspaper in Israel.
Officially, Israeli circles expressed willingness to view the Renault decision as “an isolated case” and not indicative of any change in Franco-Israeli relationship. The Renault Company, which is owned by the French Government, has decided to end its partnership in the Haifa auto assembly plant where small cars, including the Renault Dauphine, are assembled, primarily for export to Afro-Asian countries, by Renault and by Kalser Frazer.
Reports reaching here today from Paris claim that the Renault car has already been taken off the Arab League’s anti-Israeli boycott list, and that an order for 4,000 Renault automobiles has been placed with Renault in France by Egypt. Another report, however, declared that three Renault cars being shipped from Lebanon to the Syrian region of the UAR were refused entry this week-end.
Davar’s editorial this morning compared the Renault firm’s decision to end Israeli operations with Russia’s unilateral action, in 1956, to halt oil shipments to Israel on account of the Sinai campaign. “Buyers in certain Western countries,” stated the editorial, “may think of boycott in retaliation. There is no excuse for violating the Renault-Kaiser-Frazer contract, except a desire for financial gains. But it is not certain these hopes will be realized.”
Renault must take into account, Davar continued, “not only potential Arab customers but also present customers in other countries who may express dissatisfaction over such a contract violation. Other newspapers print editorials expressing regret over the fact that the French Government, which owns the Renault firm, has not used its influence against an action which the press sees as “dangerous precedents.”
(In Paris, a spokesman for the French Foreign Office said that the Renault decision was “strictly commercial.” The company has asked the French Government, according to a Paris report, for permission to start an assembly plant in Egypt. The Israeli Embassy in Paris has declined to comment on the issue, although it is known that the matter has been discussed by the Israel Government “on the highest level.”)
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