Shultz Apparently to Snub Waldheim During Vienna Visit

Secretary of State George P. Shultz apparently has decided to snub Austrian President Kurt Waldheim during a scheduled visit to Vienna next week to attend a European security conference.

State Department spokesman Charles Redman said Shultz has no plans to make a courtesy visit to Waldheim, who was elected chief of state earlier this year despite charges that he was involved in Nazi war crimes while serving as a junior officer in the German army in World War II.

Shultz is scheduled to leave Washington on Nov. 4 to attend a conference called to review compliance with agreements signed at the Helsinki conference 10 years ago. Shultz plans to confer with Soviet Foreign Minister Eduard A. Shevardnadze in Vienna, probably Nov. 6.

Austria, meanwhile, recalled its ambassador in Israel for consultations Tuesday, four months after Israel summoned home its envoy as a response to Waldheim’s election, wire services reported.

Although Israeli officials have denied that Ambassador Michael Elizur was recalled and said he is on vacation, the Austrian government said it has received a note from the Israeli Embassy in Vienna saying the ambassador “terminated his position here.”