The Soviet Union notified Israel today that, due to “technical difficulties,” the scheduled visit of the Israeli Philharmonic Orchestra to Moscow must be postponed. At the same time, Israel was notified that there will be a “delay” in the scheduled arrival here of two Soviet women athletes scheduled to participate in the Hapoel athletic games.
Israeli circles expressed fears here today that the two related Moscow actions might indicate a reversal of the recently-noted Soviet-Israel rapprochement, possibly motivated by political considerations. The reasons given for the desire to postpone the visit of the Philharmonic to Moscow seemed mysterious, in view of the fact that the negotiations for the trip by the Israeli musicians had been concluded two months ago, after 18 months of talks between Israeli representatives and Goskonzert, the Soviet organization that deals with exchanges of musicians with foreign countries.
As for the scheduled athletic participation here by two Soviet women, it was pointed out that negotiations for that event had also been going on for several months, and had been successfully concluded only a month ago. Incidentally, both Soviet women to have participated in the Hapoel games are Jewish. Moscow notified Israel that it has been found that both women had “previous engagements.”
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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.
