Abba S. Eban, Israel’s chief delegate to the United Nations General Assembly, which is currently meeting here, today urged the heads of the major Jewish organizations in France to support Israel’s policy of negotiating directly with the Germans for payment of its reparations claims. Ambassador Eban made his plea at a meeting with the heads of the organizations which for the past few weeks have been debating this point without reaching a decision.
The Israeli diplomat pointed out that the Israel Government and its representatives in the U.N. had repeatedly warned against the granting of sovereignty to Germany before it had rehabilitated itself and made amends. However, he added, “we do not see any contradiction between this attitude and that of being willing to treat with Germany on reparations. Germany has certain world obligations which it must meet before it is returned to complete sovereignty and this is definitely one of them.”
Later, Mr. Eban addressed a meeting of French Jewish leaders launching a united appeal for Israel. The 1952 goal of French Jewry will be 360,000,000 francs, three times as much as last year’s quota. In his address to the fund-raising meeting, Ambassador Eban paid tribute to the American Jewish community for its financial efforts in behalf of the Jewish State.
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