Israeli Defense Minister Yitzhak Rabin today prepared to leave for Israel after a series of meetings in Washington with President Reagan and senior Administration officials last week, and following a hectic weekend to New York where the Israeli official made speaking appearances before three American Jewish organizations.
Rabin, who was scheduled to breakfast this morning with Mayor Edward Koch, stressed in his remarks this weekend his appreciation for the Administration’s decision to provide Israel with increased military aid for the 1986 fiscal year by $400 million, bringing the total of military assistance to $1.8 billion.
“This is the highest military assistance Israel has ever got (from the U.S.) and it is all in grants,” Rabin told a meeting last Friday of the Conference of President of Major American Jewish Organizations. Israel had asked for $2.1 billion in military aid.
The Defense Minister also said he expected the level of economic assistance to Israel to be increased. In an address last night before more than 300 people at UJA-Federation headquarters here. Rabin said he believed the Adminstration will increase economic assistance to Israel by more than $1.2 billion as a grant. Washington, however, has yet to make a final decision on Israel’s request for additional economic aid, Rabin noted.
In his address to the Presidents Conference, Rabin said he found not only “friendship and understanding” fo Israel’s problems when he met with Reagan, Secretary of State George Shultz and Defense Secretary Caspar Weinberger last week, but also a “readiness and willingness to support and assist” the Jewish State.
Rabin said that Israel is currently going through a period of great economic difficulties, and that these difficulties amount to “the weakest point in Israel’s national strength.” The economic well being of a country, he said, is a major component of its defense posture.
According to Rabin, the major reasons for Israel’s deep economic troubles are the costs of peace with Egypt, which he estimated at around $5 billion, and the war in Lebanon, estimated to cost Israel some $3 billion. He said that in addition, “other economic mistakes” have contributed to the current economic crisis.
Noting that Israel has already instituted sharp austerity measures, Rabin said that the Israeli government will continue to trim the budget by cutting more than $1.2 billion in the future. He said that the cuts will affect the Defense budget as well, reducing the size of the Israel Defense Force and its services.
“We are taking security risks by cutting the defense budget,” Rabin declared, adding that without taking such risks, Israel cannot hope to resolve its economic problems.
RABIN DISCUSSES IDF WITHDRAWAL
The Israeli official also discussed Israel’s recent decision to conduct a three stage withdrawal of the Israel Defense Force (IDF) from south Lebanon, the first stage which began last week and is expected to be completed by February 18.
He warned that Israel is determined to complete the first part of the withdrawal plan “with or without an agreement” with the Lebanese government or the United Nations forces as to who will take over the vacated areas after Israel’s departure.
He said that without an orderly takeover of areas evacuated by the IDF, there is the danger of bloody fighting and massacres between the feuding Lebanese factions in the area. He said the Lebanese government will carry the responsibility for whatever happened after Israel departs.
ISRAEL NO LONGER ‘POLICEMAN OF LEBANON’
Rab in addressed more than 400 Jewish leaders at a dinner sponsored by the Prime Minister’s Club of the Israel Bond Organization at the Waldorf Astoria Hotel last Thursday. He said that Israel was withdrawing from Lebanon because “we decided that we are not going to be any longer the policeman of Lebanon. Let them solve their own problems,” he declared to the applause of the audience.
He added, however, that Israel’s decision does not mean an end to its fight against terrorism. “We are determined to continue to cope with terror and protect the northern border of Israel,” he said. While he said he cannot promise that Katuysha rockets will no longer disturb Israel’s settlements in the north, “we will do our utmost to minimize terror and maximize the punishment against the terrorist.” More than $6 million in Israel Bonds and notes were raised at the dinner.
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.
