Tel Aviv
Israel has canceled the opening in Beijing of an exhibition on Albert Einstein’s life, after China demanded the removal of any mention that the renowned physicist was Jewish. The demand was “an insult to our state and to the Jewish people as a whole,’’ said an Israeli government spokesman. The exhibition was planned in 2000, when Israeli-Chinese relations were warming up, thanks to sales of Israeli military hardware. Since then, however, the budding friendship has faltered. Israel bowed to U.S. pressure and canceled the sale of a high-tech radar system to China. And China, a strong backer of the Palestinian cause, has been increasingly critical of Israeli actions in the occupied territories. One Israeli official pointed out that Karl Marx was also Jewish, but the Chinese were unswayed.
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