Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir has renewed his demand that the government of Argentina provide Israel with information about 340 Jews who have “disappeared” in Argentina.
Shamir submitted to the leaders of Argentina last December a list of 340 “disappeared ” Jews and of another 10 known to be in detention and asked for information concerning their fates. To date, he has received information about 33 of them, and eight of the 10 detainees have been released. One of the 33 has emigrated to Israel.
Shamir told Ambassador Roberto Temporini of Argentina last week that the information received was not sufficient, and again demanded information concerning the missing Jews. Temporini pledged his government’s “continued efforts” to ascertain the whereabouts of the disappeared persons on Shamir’s list.
Revealing these details today, Shamir said he had told the Ambassador that Israel “could not accept” the Argentine government’s statement of April 28 to the effect that the disappeared persons should be regarded as no longer alive.
Briefing reporters in Jerusalem, Shamir said Temporini’s pledge that his government would continue its efforts to provide the details requested by Israel seemed to show that the statement of April 28 need not be the last word.
UNPREDECENTED DIPLOMATIC INTERVENTION
Shamir said that Israel’s action on behalf of the Jewish “disappeared ” was a virtually unprecedented instance of direct diplomatic intervention by the Jewish State on behalf of non-Israeli Jews abroad. But, he said, the Argentine government had not questioned Israel’s legitimate interest in the fates of these Jews and had not argued that Israel’s demand for information was an unjustified interference.
Shamir said the list had been drawn up with the help of Argentine Jews in Israel and in Argentina. His ministry, he added, was keeping in close contact with these families.
There will be no bulletin dated May 30, because of Memorial Day.
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