Foreign Ministry and World Zionist Organization officials were unable to report any further developments today in the arrest of five WZO emissaries (shlichim) from Israel and two local WZO employes in the Argentine city of Cordoba last Thursday. The detainees are being held incommunicado and the nature of the charges against them is still not known. At least two of them are believed to be in custody of the army instead of the local police, a circumstance that has given rise to additional concern here.
(In Buenos Aires, Asher Mibashan, the Jewish Telegraphic Agency correspondent, reported that Israeli Ambassador Ram Nir Gad told the JTA last night that officials of the Argentine Foreign Ministry promised him that prompt action would be taken in connection with the detained WZO emissaries. Nir Gad said he visited the Foreign Ministry yesterday to intervene on behalf of the detainees who are Israeli citizens. He said he was assured that the matter would be taken up urgently on a high level as requested by the Israeli Embassy. However, an Embassy official who spent yesterday and Sunday in Cordoba trying to see the detainees was refused permission to visit them, Nir Gad reported.)
Meanwhile, Foreign Ministry officials here remain tight-lipped and prefer not to speculate or over-dramatize the affair at this stage, WZO Chairman Yosef Almogi was reported to be in constant contact with the Foreign Ministry.
OTHER MEANS TO OBTAIN RELEASE
Efforts on behalf of the detainees are being made through other channels as well, Rabbi Abraham M. Herschberg, the Chief Rabbi of Mexico, who arrived in Israel for a six day visit, said he learned of the arrests while enroute. “We are active in our own ways and means for the release of the emissaries arrested in Argentina,” Herschberg told reporters but he did not elaborate. He indicated, however, that he has been in contact with Mexico City where “action” has already been taken.
Relatives and friends of the detainees have been making their own representations to Argentine diplomats in Israel. A deputation from Kibbutz Bahan, home of two of the emissaries, Yitzhak and Clara Estrugo, spent several hours with the Argentine Charge d’Affairs in Tel Aviv today. They said later that they had argued the matter on humanitarian grounds and were promised by the diplomat that he would do everything possible to supply them with information. But as of this afternoon, the Argentine Embassy had not yet contacted officials in Buenos Aires.
TWO ISRAELI BANK OFFICIALS HELD
The arrests in Cordoba brought to light information that two top Israeli bank officials have been under arrest in Buenos Aires for the past few weeks on charges of violating the local currency regulations. The officials were identified by Israeli newspapers today as the Buenos Aires branch managers of Bank Leumi and the Israel Discount Bank.
According to the papers they are suspected of aiding certain Argentine Jews to transfer money out of the country illegally. The Israeli Embassy in Buenos Aires was reportedly dealing with their case. It is apparently unconnected with the arrests of the shlichim. Daniel Recanati, director general of the Israel Discount Bank, was quoted as saying that he expected his representative in Buenos Aires to be released shortly.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
