Rep. Jonathan Bingham. (D.NY) has suggested to President Carter that his embargo against U.S. exports of 17 million tons of grain and other agricultural commodities to the Soviet Union “presents an opportunity to reinforce the Middle East peace process” by “significantly increasing” Food for Peace assistance to Israel and Egypt.
“I urge you to seize this opportunity to protect American farmers and share up our important regional interests by moving decisively to help our only dependable friends in this area of chaos,” Bingham wrote the President last month. The White House has not responded to his suggestion.
Saying that “The American farmer cannot be asked to bear the brunt alone” of the $2.75 billions lost to the U.S. by the embargo, Bingham noted “Israel and Egypt can provide much of that added absorptive capacity to ensure that international markets remain undisturbed and none of the surplus will be indirectly diverted to the Soviets.”
Bingham pointed out that the Carter Administration’s recently promised one-time $200 million increase in loan guarantees at commercial rates of interest for arms purchases “will not do much to address Israel’s balance of payments deficit.” He noted the deficit has soared from $2.56 billion in 1977 to over $4 billion in 1979. “Under these circumstances, now that we have to distribute whatever part of the 17-million ton grain purchases that cannot be stored or used for gasohol, failure to Increase the Israeli program to the full extent that they can absorb it would have to be viewed as punitive.”
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.
