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Sen. Case, Longtime Friend of Israel, Beaten in N,j, Primaries

June 8, 1978
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Sen. Clifford P. Case, one of Israel’s leading supporters in the Congress, was defeated yesterday in the New Jersey Republican primary in his bid for renomination for a fifth term in the Senate.

Case lost in a close contest to a 34-year-old comparatively unknown candidate, Jeffrey K. Bell, a conservative whose main campaign theme was a 30 per cent cut in the Federal income tax. Bell will face in the November general election the Democratic candidate, Bill Bradley, a former New York Knicks basketball star and Rhodes scholar. Bradley won a landslide victory over five opponents in the Democratic primary.

Case, who is 74 years old, served 24 years in the Senate and before that eight years in the House. He is the ranking Republican on the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. During the recent controversy over the Carter Administration’s Middle East planes package, he along with Sens. Frank Church (D. Idaho) and Jacob Javits (R. NY) led the opposition and the efforts to reach a compromise with President Carter. He and Javits were the only Republicans on the Committee to vote against the plane package. Case has played a similar role in support of Israel and its security throughout his Congressional career.

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