Sen. Edmund Muskie of Maine, said today that there is no need for a formal defense pact between the United States and Israel “because America is committed to Israel’s survival, it has always been and I expect it will always be that way.” The 1968 Democratic Vice Presidential candidate arrived here this morning for a four-day visit, his first to Israel, during which he will meet with Premier Golda Meir, Deputy Premier Yigal Allon and Defense Minister Moshe Dayan. Muskie, frequently mentioned as a possible Presidential nominee in 1972, said that according to law contracts can be oral as well as written. “We have commitments to Israel in terms of economic and military assistance,” he said.
Muskie will go to Cairo and then to Moscow after he leaves Israel. He told newsmen at Lydda Airport that he did not intend to carry any message from Premier Meir to President Anwar Sadat of Egypt. “I won’t put Mrs. Meir in a difficult position,” he said. “I am here to meet Mrs. Meir and other leaders, to try to understand their points of view and their hopes and I am not going to volunteer as messenger for anyone at this point,” he said.
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.
