The Israel Government is attempting to obtain defensive arms to discourage the possibility of war, Premier David Ben Gurion declared today, but if it cannot obtain such weapons and a war breaks out Israel will win that war. The Premier made this prediction at a public rally here to raise voluntary contributions for an arms fund.
He revealed that the Israel Government was negotiating for jet planes and tanks, weapons which have given Egypt qualitative and quantitative superiority. He reported that millions of dollars worth of arms were arriving in Israel each month, but said this was not enough, that Israel needed tens of millions of dollars worth of arms. We need fortifications on the border and border settlements must be provided with anti-tank weapons. We need air raid shelters, oil reserves and electric power reserves.
He took issue with Selwyn Lloyd, British Foreign Secretary who stated earlier this week that there was an arms balance in the Middle East, and chided the Secretary for not reading reports in the Times of London on arms pouring into Egypt. He said that Israel needed weapons not only to defend its peace but also that of the world. The start of a war is known, he pointed out, but there is no way of knowing where it will end.
Neither the Tripartite Declaration of 1950 nor Security Council resolutions are sufficient guarantees against aggression, the Premier said. Israel must rely on its army and its people, the whole nation must be prepared for war.
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.
