The Eisenhower Administration is “definitely and enthusiastically” committed to a policy which assures that the legitimate aspirations of Israel and the other Near East states are fulfilled, Alexander Wiley, chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, asserted in a letter made public here today. Sen. Wiley declared that the Administration re-asserts that “any form of aggression against Israel or any other Middle East state would be in direct violation” of American international commitments.
At the present time, Sen. Wiley continued, “Israel’s military establishment is modern and effective as compared with that of her neighbors.” He concluded with the assurance that “Israel’s position as a state committed to those basic human values, which the free world is uniting to defend, will continue to insure the most friendly consideration of her problems by our government.”
MORE CANDIDATES TAKE STAND AGAINST ARMS FOR ARABS
The American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs announced today that ten more Congressional candidates have endorsed a statement of policy opposing the grant of arms to the Arab states unless they declare their readiness to join in the defense of the free world and agree to negotiate a peace settlement with Israel,
Today’s additions brought the total list of respondents to 325. Thirty-eight states are represented and 26 nominees for the Senate have gone on record. Of the total, 249 signed a prepared pledge while 76 others issued their own statements.
(In New York, the national executive board of Brith Abraham, a fraternal organization with 310 lodges throughout the United States, protested to President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles against the policy of arming the Arab states, and demanded that arms be withheld until the Arab states agree to make peace with Israel. The executive charged that arming the Arabs would “impair the prevailing balance of strength in the Middle East and endanger peaceful planning for the defense of that area.”)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
