Defense Minister Arens has denied a statement attributed to him in the New York Post in which he allegedly told city officials that he has deep reservations about how Israel would fare if John Glenn became President.
According to the Post story today, Arens, at a private breakfast with Mayor Edward Koch and other city officials at Gracie Mansion last week, said he felt Glenn, who is seeking the Democratic Party presidential nomination, would try to force Israel to return the territories it had taken in the Six-Day War. Arens was also said to have criticized Defense Secretary Casper Weinberger as anti-Israel.
An aide to Arens said here today: “The only thing correct about the New York newspaper story is that Arens met with Koch at Koch’s residence while Arens was in New York 10 days ago.” Arens visit to New York was part of his and Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir’s visit to Washington where they met with President Reagan and other top Administration officials.
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