A bill was introduced in the House today to authorize the United States Government to loan Israel a destroyer to replace the Elath which was sunk last week by a Soviet-made missile. The bill was offered by Rep. Richard Schweiker, Pa. Rep., a member of the House Committee on Armed Services. Rep. Schweiker announced that he was consulting with committee leadership on the legislation and hoped that it would be acted upon by the end of next week. Strong support for the move was developing among both Republicans and Democrats.
Rep. Schweiker introduced the bill to implement a proposal made yesterday by House Republican Leader Gerald Ford of Michigan. The Pennsylvania Congressman said in the House that “one of our staunchest allies in the world today and a bulwark of democracy in the Middle East, Israel, is in serious naval difficulty.” He pointed out that the United States was already loaning a total of 15 naval vessels to Chile, Brazil, West Germany, Greece, Korea, Spain, and Portugal. He said a bill was adopted earlier this month to extend all these loans and provide additional ships to Korea and the Republic of China. This makes a total of 17 naval craft now under loan.
Rep. Schweiker said: “If these allies are able to use our destroyers, submarines, and destroyer escorts on a loan basis, Israel most certainly should be able to do so on the same terms.”
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.
