Foreign Affairs Minister, Ariel Sharon has instructed the
general director of his office, Eitan Bentzur, to recall the
Israeli ambassador to Germany Avi Primor, in order to clarify
the remarks he made in an interview with the German
newspaper, Di Welte, in which he attacked the
chareidim and especially the Shas movement.
Primor granted the widely circulated German newspaper an
interview on the topic, "Israel on the Eve of Elections."
Among other things, he said that the chareidi parities in
Israel are not based on democratic principles but on the
words of rabbis.
And he said there were other orthodox parties in Israel that
were also based on undemocratic principles.
In the wake of the protests of Shas Knesset members, which
were conveyed to Minister Sharon, the Minister ordered the
ambassador to be summoned to Israel in order to clarify the
issue.
The general director of the Foreign Affairs Ministry spoke
with Primor on Monday night about the affair, and said that
Primor claimed that the newspaper published only fragments of
the interview he had given.
