A letter marked top secret and personal, on the letterhead of the Israeli embassy in Washington, “From: the Minister, Washington” to Z. Shek, director of the Western Europe division at the Foreign Ministry, signed by hand. The State Archives’ title for the item reads: “Mordechai Gazit to Ze’ev Shek”. Its subject: why West Germany was not establishing diplomatic relations with Israel, and whether American encouragement would have changed that.
The document
Scan: Israel State Archives, Item 0026ihr ↗. Select the page to enlarge it.
What the document says
27 October 1964
Who held up relations with Germany
Gazit rejects the claim that Germany had not established relations with Israel because American encouragement never came: “My view is that the Germans need neither encouragement nor advice from the United States.” And if the Americans are suspected, he asks, why did Charles de GaullePresident of France, 1959–1969.More on Charles de Gaulle in “People and events” → not encourage the Germans in his talks with Konrad AdenauerChancellor of West Germany, 1949–1963.More on Konrad Adenauer in “People and events” → and with Ludwig ErhardChancellor of West Germany, 1963–1966.More on Ludwig Erhard in “People and events” →?
“I believe that neither the one nor the other held up the redemption. The decision to evade was purely German” (site translations). Diplomatic relations between Israel and West Germany were established in May 1965.
27 October 1964
“We shall try to move the President”
Having rejected the claim, he offered to act all the same. “We are not short of tasks here, and in fact I would not want you to get the impression that we are eager to take on another one (and so delicate and complicated a one at that)”, he wrote.
But if Jerusalem judged that a spoken word from Lyndon JohnsonPresident of the United States, 1963–1969.More on Lyndon Johnson in “People and events” → would tip the scale, “write to me about it and we shall try to move the American President to do so. Clearly, even if we try there is no certainty that we shall succeed” (site translations).