WASHINGTON (Dec. 18)
Rep. Clement J. Zablocki (D. Wisc.) has asked the Congress to block the sale to Israel of F-15 fighter planes for delivery in 1977 because such U.S. support for Israel begins “to equate Israel’s preservation exclusively and solely in military terms.” Zablocki a House International Relations Committee member Committee, in a resolution introduced yesterday, said the proposed sale. “underlines and endorses that mentality in a dramatic and forceful way.”
He charged that the “contention” that the F-4 aircraft “currently in the Israeli inventory” is inferior to the Soviet MIG-23 in Egypt and Syria and that the Soviet pilots in Syria are now flying the MIG-24, “is subject to serious doubt since it has never been conclusively proven.” The sale announced to Congress Dec. 9 by the Administration, indicated the equipment involves over $600 million. The number of F-15 planes in the contract has not been disclosed.
