Administration Mum on Mrs. Meir’s Criticism of State Department

The Nixon administration has put a clamp on public comment on Israeli Premier Golda Meir’s statements this week attacking the State Department’s attitude toward a guarantee of secure borders, informed sources said today. Privately, the sources said, the administration is irritated by Mrs. Meir’s public comments on the matter, and feels she should be more discreet in them. State Department spokesman Charles Bray declined comment on all Middle East questions at his noon briefing today. Secretary of State William P. Rogers, emerging from a two-hour appearance before the House Foreign Affairs Committee, would say only that the matter was one for “discussion with the government of Israel, with which we have friendly relations.” On another issue, the State Department rejected a Soviet protest against peaceful anti-Soviet activities here by the Jewish Defense League. One high Department source termed the protest a “red herring.”