President Zalman Shazar will represent Israel at the funeral of former President Eisenhower in Washington tomorrow, Israel’s Chief of State will join Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S., Maj. Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, in paying last respects. In a statement of sympathy on behalf of the people of Israel, Mr. Shazar today described Gen. Eisenhower as “the architect of the free world’s victory over Fascism to whom Israel and the Jewish people owe an unforgettable debt of gratitude for his compassion and understanding of the displaced persons surviving Nazi terror.” Prime Minister Golda Meir referred to Gen. Eisenhower in a radio broadcast yesterday as “a great man, a great President and a lover of peace, in spite of, or perhaps because he was also a great general.”
President Shazar had planned to spend the first Passover seder night with his spiritual leader, Mena- hem M. Schneerson, the Lubavitcher Rebbe, in Brooklyn. Cabinet members apparently prevailed upon Mr. Shazar to spend the holiday in his own country and he was expected to return to Israel on Tuesday. He was to attend a White House reception for heads of state. The Cabinet was concerned that the U.S. Government might be embarrassed by the problem of how to treat Israel’s head of state on a private visit while Israel is engaged in intensive political consultations with Washington.
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.
