The Israel Government is sending Dr. Chaim Yahil, deputy chief of Israel’s Reparations Corporation, to Bonn with instructions “to see to it that there are no further delays in the ratification of the reparations agreement” with the West German Government, the New York Times reported today from Tel Aviv.
The report said that Israeli authorities believe in the Adenauer Government’s good faith, but are aware that the Arabs are bringing pressure to bear through numerous private channels in an effort to prevent the payment of reparations. As a result the danger of a “vendors’ strike” has arisen, according to information reaching Israel Government officials–that is, some West German industrialists have threatened to refuse to make deliveries to Israel.
If Israel’s Reparations Corporation has difficulty in placing orders in West Germany for the $740,000,000 worth of indemnities provided in the agreement, it probably will seek to buy in other countries, the Times report says. It adds that offers to supply goods needed for the reparations program have been received from France, Belgium, the Netherlands, Luxembourg, Denmark, Finland and Switzerland. One Swiss concern offered to make deliveries now on credit, for which the ultimate security would be the last year of West German reparations payments, ten years from now.
“Since most countries of Europe are indebted to West Germany, it probably would not be difficult to finance the purchases outside West Germany,” the Times correspondent points out. “Such arrangements would have the additional advantage of meeting the fear expressed recently both by leading Israelis and by foreign observers that if Israel received great quantities of German capital goods she would become dependent on West Germany for spare parts and replacements.”
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.
