Bayh: U.S. Has Obligation to Ensure That Israel’s Defenses Are Strong

Sen, Birch Bayh (D.Ind.) declared here yesterday that the “obligation” of the United States “is to ensure that Israel’s defenses are sufficiently strong to leave absolutely no doubt in the minds of her adversaries about the wisdom of launching an attack upon her.” In that connection, Bayh called on President Ford and Congress to grant Israel “full funding” in her requests for military aid to meet the serious threat to her security posed by “almost a score of hostile states.”

Speaking at Temple Adath Yeshurum here, Bayh, a candidate for the 1976 Democratic Presidential nomination, said that “the reality of the situation in the Middle East also means that this country must stand alongside Israel to defeat the hostile resolutions” that have come out of the UN General Assembly and other UN bodies. “These are not harmless resolutions,” Bayh said. “They are racist slanders that abuse historical truth and trivialize the suffering of the very people in whom the light of civilized humanity burns.”

Bayh referred to his visit to Israel and his inspection of that country’s front line positions. He said: “Every military conflict must be decided in Israel’s favor because the first war that Israel loses will also be her last. The unremitting hostility of her neighbors and the vow by Yasir Arafat and the PLO that success for them means dismantling the State of Israel gives Israel no latitude.”

“What choices are open to a state whose only alternatives are victory or political oblivion? What costs must be borne by a people for whom failure means national oblivion? The range of choices for Israel are perilously narrow. The best prospects are for a tense, protracted armed coexistence with her neighbors. The worst is a massive onslaught by Israel’s enemies if they perceive her to be weak.”