The French government today asked Israel to permit French aeronautical observers to participate in the investigation on the shooting down of the Libyan airplane French Minister for Foreign Affairs Maurice Schumann told Israel Charge d’Affaire Yosef Hadass that France made this demand because the plane’s crew was French. Four of the five French crew members and a young Parisian air hostess died in the crash.
Hadass, in the absence of Ambassador Ben Natan who is currently in the United States, was summoned to the French Ministry for Foreign Affairs where he met with Schumann. After the meeting, the Ministry issued a statement reiterating its condemnation of “all forms of terrorism and the act of force which consisted in the shooting down of a civilian plane.” The communique, attributed to the Minister himself, said that “such acts could only increase tension in the Middle East, further complicate the possibility of finding a solution to the crisis and endanger innocent lives.”
An additional official communique said that the Minister had summoned Hadass “in order to express the emotion of the French government and of unanimous French opinion” over the downing of the Libyan plane. The Qual d’Orsay statement said that the French crew members were participating “in an international operation of technical cooperation.”
An Air France spokesman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the Libyan airliner’s French crew members belonged to the French national air company “Air France.” According to the Air France spokesman, some 12-15 French air crews serve with the Libyan airline. Each crew consists of a captain, 2-3 technical crew members such as engineer and navigator, and 3-4 cabin crew, namely purser, stewards and air hostess.
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.
