After decades of overt hostility, the Soviet Union now acknowledges that it needs Israel’s friendship and assistance, according to a senior Israeli Cabinet minister who met with Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev in Moscow last Friday.
Finance Minister Yitzhak Moda’i told a group of foreign correspondents here Tuesday that Gorbachev sought a meeting with him and his Cabinet colleague, Science and Energy Minister Yuval Ne’eman, when they were in Moscow last week, because he realizes the important role Israel could play as a bridge between the Soviet Union and the United States.
Moda’i said the Soviets want to use the good offices of Israel to strengthen economic ties with the West. He said they would like to utilize the economic pacts Israel has with the United States and the European Community.
The finance minister said that contrary to speculation in the news media here, the Soviet leader said nothing about Israel influencing American Jewish business leaders to invest in the Soviet economy.
Nor did Gorbachev offer to assist Israel if it is attacked by Iraq, Moda’i said, questioning a remark to that effect by Foreign Minister David Levy during his meeting with E.C. leaders in Brussels on Monday.
“What he did say was that it was lucky that the USSR is no longer with the other (Iraqi) side.” Moda’i said. “He asked us: Could you imagine what would have happened if we were on the other side of the fence as we had been in the past?”
DESCRIBES HUSSEIN AS ‘WILD BEAST’
The Soviet Union previously was an ally and chief source of arms for Iraq. But Soviet leaders have told Iraqi President Saddam Hussein in no uncertain terms that he must withdraw his troops from Kuwait.
According to Moda’i, Gorbachev referred to Hussein as “the wild beast,” though he expressed hope that the Persian Gulf crisis would be resolved in “amicable terms.”
Moda’i said Israel would not be satisfied with a diplomatic solution that left Hussein in power. “What then? Should Israel then face the wild beast on her own?” he said he asked.
Gorbachev reportedly replied that Hussein would be forced to give guarantees against future trouble-making.
But Moda’i was still not satisfied.
“Personally, I believe it would be best if we could get rid of Saddam Hussein,” the Likud minister said.”I don’t mean that anything bad should happen to him, but that he should merely be removed from power.”
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.
