The respect and esteem which the people of Israel felt for the late President Harry S. Truman was demonstrated yesterday when two top ranking Israeli diplomats flew to Independence, Mo, to pay final respects to the former President. Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, and Shaul Ramati, Consul General of Israel for the Midwest, whose Consulate is in Chicago, visited the Truman Library when President Truman was lying in state.
Rabin and Ramati were the first foreign diplomats to view the flag-draped coffin and to stand in silent tribute to President Truman. They told the Kansas City Jewish Chronicle later that they had come on their own initiative “to demonstrate our feelings of respect and gratitude to President Truman.” They did not visit the Truman family. The diplomats said they “wished to avoid intruding on the family in their hour of grief.” They are not attending the Truman funeral today.
An official memorial service will be held for President Truman in Washington, D.C. early in Jan. shortly after Congress reconvenes to which nations throughout the world will send representatives. It is believed that President Zalman Shazar of Israel will represent his country at these services. Rabin and Ramati were escorted to the Truman Library yesterday by Morton Sosland, president of the Kansas City Jewish Federation and David H. Goldstein, executive director of the Jewish Community Relations Bureau here.
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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.
