French Socialist Party leader Francois Mitterand told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that he planned to go to the Soviet Union even though his presence was unwanted there because of his support for Soviet Jews seeking emigration visas. Mitterand, who is visiting Denmark for Common Market talks with Premier Gens Otto Krag, addressed a press conference here. He refused to comment further on his position regarding the exorbitant visa fees Soviet authorities demand from educated Jews seeking to emigrate.
He said his position was made plain in his open letter to Piotr Abrasimov, the Soviet Ambassador to France. As a result of that letter supporting Soviet Jews, Moscow called off Mitterand’s visit in November as the head of a delegation of French Socialists and Communists.
The Socialist leader said his party opposed the French government’s policy of continuing its arms embargo against Israel while continuing to sell arms to Arab countries such as Libya. “If France is going to sell weapons, it should sell them to both sides in the conflict,” he said. He noted that France was not friendly to Israeli attempts to strengthen its ties with the Common Market.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
