Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s visit to Bulgaria is going very well, according to reports from Sofia. It is the first visit by an incumbent Israeli prime minister to that southeastern European country, and it is expected to result in extensive trade, tourism and cultural ties. Shamir, who is accompanied by his Bulgarian-born wife, Shulamit, has… More ▸
Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir arrived Tuesday in the Bulgarian capital of Sofia, on the first official visit to that Eastern European country by an incumbent Israeli prime minister. Although allied with Germany during World War II, Bulgaria was one of the few European states under Nazi domination that tried to protect its Jewish inhabitants, Shamir… More ▸
President Chaim Herzog is scheduled to leave Tuesday for Hungary and Bulgaria, on the first official visit to those countries by an Israeli chief of state. He will meet with the Hungarian president, prime minister and foreign minister in Budapest, and will visit a transit point used by Jewish emigrants from the Soviet Union en… More ▸
The Jewish community of Bulgaria said Wednesday that vandals who damaged the Jewish section of the old cemetery in the city of Ruse on Monday night appear not to have been motivated by anti-Semitism or nationalism. A statement released by Eddie Schwartz, president of Shalom, the Organization of Jews in Bulgaria, said the community was… More ▸
The first flight to Israel by Balkan Air, Bulgaria’s national airline, landed Monday at Ben-Gurion Airport with 68 immigrants on board. Jewish Agency officials expressed hope that at least 100 Bulgarian olim would arrive each month now that direct flights from the capital city of Sofia have been established. The Jewish Agency signed an agreement… More ▸
Israel and Bulgaria signed an aviation agreement Monday in Sofia, their first bilateral pact since resuming diplomatic relations last year. The signatories were Moshe Katsav, Israel’s transportation minister, and his Bulgarian counterpart, Vaselin Pavlov. The accord opens yet another transfer point for Soviet Jewish immigrants bound for Israel. Bulgaria’s airline, Balkan Air, will begin weekly… More ▸
Bulgaria on Thursday became the fourth Eastern European country to renew diplomatic relations with Israel, broken in 1967 following the Six-Day War. Bulgaria’s restoration of ties with Israel follows those by Hungary, Czechoslovakia and Poland. Only Yugoslavia and Albania among the Eastern bloc nations have so far held out against a resumption of relations. The… More ▸
Israel and Bulgaria, on the brink of resuming diplomatic relations, have run into a snag over reciprocal privileges for their respective national airlines. Israel’s Civil Aviation Authority has refused landing rights at Ben-Gurion Airport to a Bulgarian Balkanair flight, because the agency is dissatisfied with security arrangements at the airport in Sofia, the Bulgarian capital…. More ▸
Bulgaria will soon re-establish full diplomatic relations with Israel, according to Elan Steinberg, executive director of the World Jewish Congress. Steinberg said Bulgarian Foreign Ministry officials confirmed the information to WJC officials in Brussels on Friday. Arrangements are being made for Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Arens to come to Sofia, the Bulgarian capital, for the… More ▸
What may become the first perpetually airborne Torah is now set to circumnavigate the globe on the private jet of Edgar Bronfman. Bronfman, who is president of the World Jewish Congress, received the 100-year-old Torah scroll as a gift of the Jewish community of Bulgaria, which he visited last week. Bronfman will have an ark… More ▸
