Rep. Mario Biaggi (D/C NY), accused the Arab states of using oil to force the United States to abandon its support of the State of Israel by aggravating the energy and dollar crises. In remarks today on the floor of the House, the Congressman said the Arabs were raising the price of oil to build a war chest aimed at “bringing the dollar down” in international money markets and cornering “the world’s supply of gold.”
Biaggi noted that the nationalization of U.S. oil companies and the increased prices for oil would give the Arab states major control over a key source of world oil. “For years, the Arab states have been coming to the United States to beg for assistance so that they could develop their nations,” he said. “Now that they have the capital reserves to finance their own development, they prefer to use the funds to bring the dollar down and to corner the world’s supply of gold.”
He added: “The Arabs hope that the American people will ask their elected representatives to denounce Israel and abandon the Jewish State in order to allow the oil to flow again. We know the Arab plan is doomed to failure….The United States supports Israel because it is right, and we shall not be blinded by such false reason to abandon what we know is right.”
Biaggi also urged his colleagues not “to cower before the economic threats being issued by the Arab oil states. We must gauge and evaluate these threats for what they are–attempts to break the vital link between this nation and its Israeli allies. We must resolve never to sacrifice the security and friendship of Israel for economic ends.”
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.
