The West German army has been ordered by Chancellor Helmut Schmidt to refrain from sending high ranking officers to Israel, particularly generals. The order, confirmed by Defense Minister Hans Apel, was passed on to the German Military Attaches by Chief of Staff Gen. Juergen Brandt, the weekly Die Welt reported.
According to Die Welt, Schmidt’s action was in line with a secret decision by the European Economic Community (EEC) member-states not to allow their military officers to visit Israel. The decision was taken at the EEC summit meeting in Brussels late last month, Die Welt said.
The Die Welt report was neither confirmed nor denied. But Defense Ministry sources said privately that the level of military contacts between West Germany and Israel has been reduced considerably over the past 10 months. Observers believe this reflected the deteriorating relations with Jerusalem following Premier Menachem Begin’s personal attacks on Schmidt just before Israel’s parliamentary elections in June, 1981.
PLO GETTING GERMAN-MADE RIFLES
Sources here confirmed, meanwhile, that an investigation has been launched into how West German-made rifles found their way to the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon. The rifles of the G-3 type, which are standard issue to German soldiers, were captured by the Israelis.
Hundreds were displayed to the public in Tel Aviv recently in their original pocking cases. This has embarrassed the Bonn authorities inasmuch as national policy until recently prohibited the sale of weapons to belligerents in areas of tension.
The rifles, manufactured by the West German firm of Heckler and Koch, are assumed to have been sold directly to the PLO or transferred to them by Saudi Arabia.
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