§ Mr. Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs what are the duties of United Kingdom military attachés in countries with which the United Kingdom has friendly diplomatic relations and to which they are formally accredited; and whether he will make a statement.
§ Mr. LuceThe duties of the United Kingdom service attachés in question are essentially those concerned with all aspects of bilateral defence relations. These include general exchanges of information; arrangements for visits, deployments and exercises; defence procurement questions and military assistance of various kinds.
§ Mr. Lathamasked the Secretary of State for Foreign and Commonwealth Affairs whether he will make a 331W statement on the recent allegation by the Government of Israel that a United Kingdom military attaché was engaged in unauthorised photography of a military base; and what response has been given to the Government of Israel.
§ Mr. LuceHer Majesty's ambassador in Tel Aviv has delivered a formal protest to the Israeli Ministry of Foreign Affairs about the incident on 19 June involving the British defence attaché and the Israeli police. This made clear that, contrary to the allegations by the Israeli police, the car in which the defence attaché was travelling that morning had at no time left public roads and that he had not entered any militarily restricted area nor taken any photographs of military installations. The ambassador has registered our strong concern at the unjustified treatment of the defence attaché, especially in view of his diplomatic status and the fact that he had committed no offence.