Rep. Thomas O’Neill (D. Mass.), Speaker of the House, said that the challenge to the new government of Israel will be “to accomplish austerity without weakening the country’s defenses and without tattering the basic fabric of a decent and compassionate society.”
“The goals of the new unity government are clear,” he told the more than 500 Jewish leaders from the United States and Canada attending the 1984 Israel Bond national leadership conference here. The goals, O’Neill said, are “sustainable economic improvement; realistic but improved living standards on all levels of Israeli society; and, most important, progress in securing peace and security not only for the State of Israel but for the entire region, so that cooperation and prosperity can displace the mistrust and hostility that continue to plague the Middle East.”
The Congressman said that “cooperation with the United States promises to improve Israel’s ability to pay for its defense by bringing efficiency into Israel’s domestic defense industry and by altering the terms of United States aid to Israel. But the only way to dramatically reduce the cost of Israel’s defense would be to bring a lasting peace to that region so that less defense will be needed.”
“Israel cannot unilaterally launch a new era of peace,” O’Neill said, “but progress will require a continuation of the sincere conciliatory efforts that culminated in the Camp David accord between Israel and Egypt.”
He asserted that unless Israel goes through a painful period of restraint, even generous aid from the United States will not be able to prop up its reeling economy. “The new government of Israel,” he said, “will have to make some painful choices.”
Brig. Gen. (Res.) Yehudah Halevy, president of Israel Bonds, expressed his confidence that the new government will overcome Israel’s current financial problems and will lead the nation to new successes on the road to economic independence.
O’Neill received the Israel Bond Organization’s Menorah Award in recognition of his 30 years of public service and support for Israel. The award was presented to him by Leonard Florence of this city, a leader in the Bond campaign and a close personal friend of the House Speaker.
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.
