“American public opinion stands as firmly as ever behind the efforts of Israel to build a strong democratic state in the Middle East,” Extra Shapiro, president of the American Jewish League for Israel, reported at a meeting of the League’s executive bold here.
At the same time Mr. Shapiro regretted the fact that, in dealing with the Arab boycott against Israel, our government “has shown a tendency to temporize and equivocate where firmness in principle and in action is needed.”
Mr. Shapiro deplored the critism leveled at Israeli leaders by American Zionist leaders who “have tried to persuade themselves that American support for Israel was deteriorating and used their self-serving claims as an excuse to criticize Israeli leadership.” His remarks were viewed as an answer to recent statements made by Abraham Redelheim, president of the Zionist Organization of America, alleging that criticism of the Zionist movement by Israeli officials has resulted in the deterioration of American public support for Israel.
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