Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the American Zionist Federation, described Israeli Premier Golda Meir yesterday as “much more realistic” on Middle East issues than Secretary of State William P. Rogers. In her “frank, forceful and firm statement” last week, Rabbi Miller said, Mrs. Meir contributed a “necessary response” to the proposal for Israeli “concessions” offered by Rogers.
“Prime Minister Meir’s explicit address should not have been viewed with surprise by any observer who had listened to Foreign Minister Abba Eban’s eloquent statements of Israel’s position recently at the United Nations and in public and private forums,” the AZF leader observed.
“In my opinion the major thrust of Mrs. Meir’s address was the call to the government of the United States to honor President Nixon’s pledge to maintain the military balance by approving the sale of additional Phantoms to Israel.” In her Oct. 26 speech, Mrs. Meir attributed the delay in jet sales to what she was as an Arabization of America’s Mideast policy.
Rabbi Miller said that Rogers’ Oct. 14 statement, that he would review the jet question in the light of increased Soviet arms aid to Egypt, “is a promissory note on the delivery of the Phantoms which must be promptly redeemed.” Praising those Senators and Representatives who have endorsed immediate jet sales to Israel, Rabbi Miller said that the AZF “will continue to press the government until the President’s pledge is fulfilled.”
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