LINKS WITH ISRAEL

Press, Volume CV, Issue 31000, 4 March 1966, Page 17

LINKS WITH ISRAEL

Envoy Visits Christchurch “Many Israelis have happy memories of Kiwis and Australians from the war,” said Mr Shaul Ben Haim, the Israeli Consul-General for Australia and New Zealand, on his arrival in Christchurch yesterday. “We remember them not only for their distinctive headgear, but also for the warmth of their natures." Mr Ben Haim said that, although New Zealand and Israel were a great distance apart, there were many facets of their ways of life and thinking that were similar. The two countries had almost equal populations, though Israel was only the size of Canterbury. Trade relations were still on a modest scale, but there was a growing number of visitors to Israel from New Zealand. One soil reclamation project in a development area had been called Wellington after the New Zealand capital, in line with the practice of naming things and places after friendly people. Mr Ben Haim said some New Zealanders were working in Kibbutzum in Israel, and one Wellington man, Mr Roger Benjamin, had founded a farm settlement in a desolate area on the shores of the Dead Sea. The Consul-General, who is based in Sydney, has visited Auckland and Wellington and motored through the North Island. “It is one of the banes of our profession that we tend to know a country only by its hotel rooms,” said Mr Ben Haim. “Next time I hope to drive through the South Island.” Mr Ben Haim returns to Sydney today.