A high Republican Congressional leader told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that President Ford has indicated to him he “would not back off” from opening a U.S. military supply relationship with Egypt despite the strong opposition to it by Israel and pro-Israeli supporters in the United States.
Rep. William Broomfield (R. Mich.) said he saw the President last night at the White House and expressed to him that “substantial reservation and opposition and concern” existed in the House International Relations Committee against the Administration’s move to provide Egypt with six of the huge C-130 troop transport aircraft.
Broomfield said he told Ford that he was expressing the feeling of a “number of members” of the committee on behalf of himself and the panel’s chairman Rep. Thomas Morgan (D. Pa.). Broomfield is the committee’s highest ranking Republican member. Asked by the JTA for the President’s reaction, Broomfield said: “The President thought it (the supply of the planes to Egypt) was a reasonable request and did not give any indication he would back off.”
FISHER MET WITH FORD
Broomfield said he brought up the matter during his appointment with Ford on another subject. His visit followed the meeting between the President and Max Fisher, the Detroit industrialist who was described at the White House as a “close friend” of the Chief Executive. Fisher said today that he had “no comment” when he was asked by the JTA for a statement on his 45-minute meeting with the President.
When Presidential press secretary Ron Nessen was asked yesterday in advance of the Fisher meeting whether Fisher was to discuss the arms program, Nessen replied his “assumption” was that Fisher was to see the President about fundraising for Ford’s election campaign.
However, sources indicated that Fisher also expressed the concern in the American Jewish community about the Administration’s opening of a broad arms program that is understood to include fighter aircraft, anti-tank weapons, missiles and helicopters.
For the present and until after the elections in November, according to reports, the Administration will not go beyond the sale of the C-130s. This schedule was reported to have been laid down by Ford to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger last week after the Administration’s disclosure of arms for Egypt raised a storm in Israel and a fury among pro-Israelis in the U.S. (See related Ford story P.3)
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.
