Senate Hears Plea to Johnson to Summon Arab-israel ‘summit’ Parley

Senator Ernest Gruening of Alaska today urged President Johnson to call a meeting at the highest political level of the Arab countries and Israel "to reason together" to end the threats of war by the Arab nations against Israel.

In a speech on the floor of the Senate, in which he commented on Soviet Premier Khrushchev’s statement in Cairo yesterday against Israel, Sen, Gruening said if President Johnson’s efforts to bring the Arabs and Israel together for talks should fail, Nasser’s aggression in Yemen and his war preparations against Israel and designs against the British in Aden should be brought before the United Nations, laid bare before the eyes of the world and an effort made to halt Nasser’s collision course. Though the Soviets might veto such action, "at least the United States will have tried to act, " the Senator declared.

"The hundreds of millions of dollars that we have given Nasser supposedly for the economic development of Egypt, "the Senator stated, "have enabled Nasser to divert his own resources to a missile buildup in Egypt for the purpose of destroying Israel, and to wage an aggressive war in Yemen and Southern Arabia, in which he used Russian planes to strafe and burn villagers to death, and which he is boasting he will convert into an expulsion of the British from the Middle East. "

"Meanwhile, the State Department continues to apologize for Nasser, continues to give him more dollars, and suggests that Nasser is more moderate than he used to be. We should make it clear, " the Alaska Senator said, "beyond any possibility of doubt, that the United States will not tolerate Egyptian destruction of Israel and that the United States power stands ready as a deterrent to Egypt’s air force."

Noting that now both Russia and Nazi scientists are giving Egypt a sophisticated weapons system, the Senator called on the United States to enter into a mutual security treaty with Israel, so that American weapons and the Sixth Fleet will be interposed between Egypt and Israel.