Administration Omits Measure Checking Arab Bias Against U.S. Jews

The Administration made known today in budget proposals for fiscal 1964 submitted to Congress that “it is proposed to omit” the clause in the Foreign Assistance Act pertaining to Arab bias affecting Americans of Jewish faith.

The anti-bias clause, inserted last year by Rep. Leonard Farbstein, New York Democrat, never met with State Department approval. The Department’s view is that such a clause might be offensive to the Arab states and that beneficiaries of American aid should not be “coerced” by attaching “strings” to the aid program. The new budget proposals, just released by the Executive Department, revealed that the State Department view has been accepted by the Administration.

The clause designated for elimination in fiscal 1964 is section 106. It states that “it is the sense of Congress that any attempt by foreign nations to create distinctions because of their race or religion among American citizens in the granting of personal or commercial access or any other rights otherwise available to United States citizens generally is repugnant to our principles; and in all negotiations between the United States and any foreign state arising as a result of funds appropriated under this title these principles shall be applied as the President may determine.”

The Bureau of the Budget marked this section with heavy black brackets, stating that this meant it was proposed to omit this clause.

Rep. Farbstein, a member of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, said today that he intends to re-introduce the anti-bias clause in the new legislation regardless of the State Department’s desires. He said that “Congress cannot force the State Department to implement its wishes but at least through this clause the world knows how the United States Congress feels about the imposition of religious bigotry on American citizens by nations receiving American assistance.”