British Parliament Differs with Government on Arms to Israel

The British Government has once again shown that it is out of step with almost the entire House of Commons on the question of supplying arms to Israel to balance those received by the Arab states, it was seen today following the conclusion of the two-day Parliamentary debate on foreign affairs.

The two-day debate was notable for the amount of time taken by members of all three political parties to press for fair play for Israel. It as also notable for the poverty of the government’s explanations for refusing to supply defensive arms to Israel. The debate demonstrated that even government supporters were dissatisfied with the assertion by Foreign Secretary Selwyn Lloyd that the Arab-Israel balance of arms is still in Israel’s favor.

Indication that the Laborites would continue to press the government on the need to sell arms to Israel was given at the close of the debate by Kenneth Younger, leading member of the Labor Party. The government’s view that Israel has the better of the Middle East arms situation is “unsatisfactory,” he declared.

Arms deliveries to the Middle East have been increasing, Mr. Younger said, but Israel has not been obtaining the weapons it seeks. He noted that the Jewish State had not received arms from Britain and “certainly not from the Communist countries.” As a result, he stressed, the arms balance has been “swinging heavily against Israel in the last six months.”

He charged that the Western Big Three were following a “policy of drift” toward Israel which, he insisted, was “very dangerous.” He asked the government to restate with the utmost firmness its intention of maintaining the power balance in the Middle East.

In this, Mr. Younger was echoing an earlier request by Conservative back bencher Sir Robert Boothby who demanded a categorical assurance that the government was trying to preserve a genuine balance of power under the terms of the Tripartite Declaration. He also asked for a declaration by the British and American Governments that regardless of what happens, the United Kingdom and the United States can never stand aside and see the State of Israel exterminated with Communist arms.

Barnett Janner, Labor MP who is also president of the Zionist Federation of Britain, said that Israel and anyone else associated with the Zionist movement wanted to see the Arab refugee problem solved. He suggested to the Arab states that they do for the Arab refugees what Israel did for Jewish DP’s and refugees.