FM SHALOM LIKELY TO HEAD GOI DELEGATION TO OSCE

C O N F I D E N T I A L TEL AVIV 002300 SIPDIS E.O. 12958: DECL: 04/21/2014 TAGS: PHUM PREL SOCI IS GOI EXTERNAL SUBJECT: FM SHALOM LIKELY TO HEAD GOI DELEGATION TO OSCE ANTI-SEMITISM CONFERENCE REF: A. TEL AVIV 2125 ¶B. SECSTATE 78071 Classified By: Political Counselor Norm Olsen for reason 1.4 (b) and (d ). ¶1. (SBU) MFA Minister Counselor for Anti-Semitism and Holocaust Remembrance Martin Flax told poloff on April 21 that it is the MFA's "working assumption" that FM Silvan Shalom will head the GOI's delegation to the OSCE's Anti-Semitism Conference in Berlin April 28-29. He anticipates the delegation will consist of six or seven "professionals." Flax is also aware of several Israeli NGOs that will be participating in the conference, and he noted that they are not part of the official GOI delegation. ¶2. (SBU) Flax also informed poloff that Israeli President Moshe Katsav will be on a state visit to Berlin at the time of the OSCE Conference and will attend a state dinner in Katsav's honor on April 28. Minister-without-Portfolio Natan Sharansky told Ambassador Kurtzer April 20 that President Katsav requested that Sharansky attend the conference and there is a possibility he will do so. ¶3. (C) Flax said that the GOI would not be undertaking any "independent lobbying" on the contents of the draft declaration as this would be "tactically" unwise. It would be more effective, he said, if Germany and the United States would "carry the ball" on the declaration. ********************************************* ******************** Visit Embassy Tel Aviv's Classified Website: http://www.state.sgov.gov/p/nea/telaviv You can also access this site through the State Department's Classified SIPRNET website. ********************************************* ******************** KURTZER