The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith suggested to the State Department today that federal subsidies be withdrawn from the American President Lines, a big West Coast shipping company, for canceling a scheduled stop by one of its vessels in Haifa, Israel, under Arab pressure.
The firm announced last week that it had promised Egypt not to let one of its cruising ships visit Haifa, after the Cairo Government had threatened to bar the vessel when it would try to pass through the Suez Canal.
Arnold Forster, general counsel for the ADL, said today that there is “no evidence that the United Arab Republic had threatened such action nor that the American President Lines had asked our Government’s help in the face of such a threat.” According to Mr. Forster, the State Department had pointed out that “denial of such passage would be a violation of the convention under which the UAR operates the Canal.” The ADL official called the promised action by the American President Lines “contrary to United States policy” and a violation of U.S. laws.
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