Moshe Arens, a member of the Israeli Cabinet, is urging Western governments to band together to fight terrorism which threatens international stability and the lives of heads of government.
Arens, a former Defense Minister of Israel and presently a Minister-Without-Portfolio in the Labor-Likud unity government, declared that the assassination of India’s Prime Minister Indira Ghandi was “a vivid reminder that we live at a time when terrorism has taken its toll.” The Israeli statesman addressed a banquet in his honor given by the Hebrew Academy at the Grand Hyatt Hotel here last week and answered questions from reporters, it was reported by the Northern California Jewish Bulletin.
Arens recalled other political assassinations in recent years, President Anwar Sadat of Egypt and President-elect Bashir Gemayel of Lebanon. He noted as well the attempt on the life of Britain’s Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher and the “kidnappings, embassy bombings and the killing of innocent men, women and children.” But, he added, “when it started out, Israel was the foremost victim.”
Arens referred to Secretary of State George Shultz’s recent exhortation to the United States to take a strong stand against terrorism. But the need is far greater than one country, Arens said. “There’s a need for Western governments to band together to fight terrorism.”
As for Israel, Arens said the high cost of defense and the prospect that the defense budget will be cut because of economic crisis, means that Israel must continue its fight against terrorism in new ways. The “new” way he said is through technology, using Israeli developments and “our motivation and brains.”
DEFENDS ISRAEL’S INVASION OF LEBANON
Arens defended Israel’s invasion of Lebanon in 1982, at which time he was his country’s Ambassador to Washington. The invasion was necessary, he said, because of “state-supported terrorism” against Israel by Iran, Iraq, Syria, Libya and the Palestine Liberation Organization “which set up a state of its
But Israel achieved its objectives, he said. “The long trail of blood that led through most villages in the northern part of Israel” was stopped. “No more (Israeli) men, women and children are being hurt, for the first time in 16 years.” He added, “You pay a price for your objectives. You get nothing for nothing.”
Arens predicted that Israel’s new unity government, while desireous of pulling the Israel Defense Force out of Lebanon, will make no such move without iron-clad assurances that Israel’s northern border will remain secure.
PRO AND ANTI-ISRAEL DEMONSTRATIONS
Two groups of demonstrators marched and shouted slogans outside the hotel while Arens spoke, one anti-Israel, the other pro-Israel. About 200 persons representing a coalition of pro-Palestinian and pro-PLO organizations, took up the cry “U.S., Israel — Out of Lebanon,” the Jewish Bulletin reported.
Across the street, about 25 members of the Jewish Action Committee of San Francisco State University; the Israel Action Committee of the University of California, Berkeley; Americans for a Safe Israel, and Herut, shouted “Down with Arab petro blackmail.” The area was surrounded by uniformed and plain clothed police, mounted police and a tactical squad which provided what a police spokesman called “very, very tight security.” There were no incidents.
Arens told his audience that since U.S.-Israel relations reached a nadir at the time of the Sabra and Shatila refugee camps massacres, they have turned around completely. Administration officials, he said, have come face to face with the problems Israel has had for 36 years.
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