Egypt, Cuba, Norway Elected to Security Council; Choice of Egypt Protested by Israelis

The election of Egypt as a member of the Security Council at today’s session of the U.N. General Assembly was protested in a statement issued here by a spokesman for the Israeli delegation. The statement said:

“Egypt’s army has been engaged in open aggression against Israel since May 15 in brazen contempt of the United Nations Charter. The election of Egypt to the Security Council will come as a great surprise to the people of Israel who will not understand this utter disregard of all moral considerations and the express provision of Article 23 of the Charter which calls on the Assembly to pay special consideration to a member’s contribution to the maintenance of international peace and security in the election to the Council.”

The statement was made following the election of Cuba, Norway and Egypt to replace Colombia, Belgium and Syria. Although Cuba received 53 votes and Norway 44, Egypt received only 38, two more than the necessary minimum.

The elections aroused little surprise in the corridors of the Palais de Chaillot, although some delegates expressed doubts over the fitness of Egypt to undertake responsibilities as a maintainer of the peace. The unanimous choice of Cuba means that Dr. Guillermo Belt, the most consistently anti-Palestine partition advocate of all the Latins, will replace the Colombians who have been habitual abstainer within the United Nations on the Palestine problem.

The election of Norway to succeed Belgium doss little to alter the alignment within the Security Council, although Norway’s attitude vis-a-vis Israel has been somewhat more positive. The defeat of Turkey by Egypt on the third ballot was inevitable after the decision of the British and the Americans to switch from their first vote for Turkey. The Soviets supported Egypt chiefly out of antagonism toward Turkey while the bulk of the Latin Americans had been previously committed to the support of Egypt.