A plan to establish cultural liaison between Jerusalem and Munich, Germany, is purely a municipal affair, and the Israeli Foreign Ministry has not been consulted in regard to the proposal, a spokesman for the Ministry stated here today.
Last May, Mayor Hans Jochen Vogel, of Munich, wrote to Jerusalem Mayor Mor-dechai Ish-Shalom, noting that Munich had established cultural ties with other foreign cities, and proposing that similar relations be established with Jerusalem. Mayor Vogel informed Mr. Ish-Shalom that the director of Munich’s cultural department would visit Jerusalem to discuss the proposed relations. Mayor Ish-Shalom replied that he would make an “all out” effort to facilitate the success of the cultural ties between the two cities.
During the last week, a number of Israeli newspapers protested against the plan. Today’s Foreign Ministry statement, motivated by those protests, pointed out that the matter was on the municipal level, and had nothing to do with the Government’s attitude toward Mayor Vogel’s proposal.
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