Haifa Mayor pleads for French to say 'non' to consulate closure

By MIRIAM BULWAR DAVID-HAY (TRANSLATED)
Haifa Mayor Yona Yahav has written to French President Nicolas Sarkozy asking him to help prevent the closure of the French consulate in Haifa, reports www.local.co.il. Yahav wrote that the consulate was being threatened with closure by French officials who wanted to concentrate all services in Tel Aviv. According to the report, Yahav also wrote to the French ambassador in Israel, Jean-Michel Casa, about the issue. In his letters, he said that not only were there thousands of French citizens living in Haifa and northern Israel, but there were also hundreds of French university students who required consular services in the area. No response was reported from French officials.