The Reagan Administration felt the ire of members of the House yesterday over its refusal to recommend the additional $200 million grant in foreign aid to Israel for the 1984 fiscal year that Congress authorized for 1983.
The displeasure was directed at Nicholas Veliotes, Assistant Secretary of State for Near Eastern and South Asian Affairs, as he testified before the House Foreign Affairs Committee’s subcommittee on Europe and the Middle East on the Administration’s request for $2.485 billion in aid to Israel in 1984, the same as this year.
The proposal includes $1.7 billion in foreign military sales financing, $550 million of which would be a grant and $785 million in economic aid, all of it a grant. While the Administration is proposing that the military aid grant be $50 million more than the $500 million it recommended in 1983, the proposal is actually $200 million less than Congress approved.
When Rep.Lee Hamilton (D. Ind.) the subcommittee chairman, suggested that this amount is a reduction in aid to Israel, Veliotes replied “I don’t believe the question is relevant,” since the Administration opposed the grant franchise last year. “In due course, you’ll find it is relevant,” Hamilton told him.
CITES TRADITIONAL COMMITMENT TO ISRAEL
In his prepared testimony, in which he called the U.S. aid program to Israel “the material manifestation of our traditional commitment to Israel,” Veliotes said that the $50 million increase the Administration recommended “for the military grant” is motivated by our understanding over Israeli concerns over their debt burden, coupled with our own analysis of that situation and our own budgetary constraints.”
Throughout his testimony, Veliotes stressed that the Administration believes that the amount recommended for Israel is “sufficient” particularly in an “austerity year.” He stressed that to provide the additional $200 million in grants would mean taking funds “out of the hides” of other countries that also need U.S. aid.
REACTIONS BY LEGISLATORS
Rep. Mel Levine (D. Cal.) said that, as a freshman Congressman, he could not understand how the Administration could “ignore” the will of Congress. Rep. Stephen Solarz (D. N.Y.) pointed out that since the $785 million economic aid figure has remained unchanged since 1978, it is a decrease in aid in real terms.
Veliotes said that the Administration was “trying to run a world-wide program, not just a Middle East program and certainly not just an Israeli program.”
Rep. Robert Toricelli (D. N.J.) said by not recommending the additional $200 million grant, the Administration might be perceived as attempting to exercise some “coercion” on Israel. Veliotes replied that this would be true only if $2.5 billion could be considered a “sanction.” He stressed that the foreign aid proposal is a “strong vote of confidence in Israel.”
Rep. Ed Zschau (R. Cal.), a freshman, suggested that conditions be placed on Israel aid to get Israel to cooperate on such issues as freezing Jewish settlements on the West Bank. Veliotes rejected this. He said one purpose of the aid program was to encourage Israel to feel secure “perhaps super secure,” so that it could “take risks for peace.”
SAYS PEOPLE ARE QUESTIONING AID TO ISRAEL
The only other opposition to the Israeli aid program came from another Californian, Rep. Mervyn Dymally, a Democrat in his second term, who said that for the first time since entering public life, he found that people in his district had been raising questions about aid to Israel. Levine quipped that his Los Angeles county district is next to Dymally’s and he gets the opposite reaction from his constituents.
Dymally said that from 1974 to 1982, the United States provided Israel $22.8 billion in aid, twice the amount given all of Africa and 25 percent more than Latin America. Veliotes replied that this amount can be justified since it is part of the U.S. effort in the Mideast to achieve “an area of stability and security.”
Dymally also noted that it was difficult to justify aid to Israel because of the economic conditions in the United States, particularly since Israel has rejected President Reagan’s peace initiative, continued to build settlements on the West Bank and has not withdrawn its troops from Lebanon.
Rep. Larry Smith (D. Fla.) noted that the aid program helps create jobs in the U.S. since Israel buys more from the United States than it receives in economic assistance and all of the military loans and grants must be used to purchase American-made equipment.
In outlining the Israeli aid program, Veliotes also listed an additional $15 million in regional programs. This includes $7 million for development on the West Bank and Gaza, which goes to American volunteer agencies dealing with education, community development, water storage and agriculture. Another $7 million is provided for cooperative scientific, technical and other programs of mutual interest to Israel and its Arab neighbors. The final $1 million is for project development.
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.
