“I am going home, filled with pleasant impressions of this great and fair-minded country, where our young State can learn a great many useful lessons,” Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion declared today in a statement prior to his departure for home.
He arrived at London Airport shortly before his scheduled departure on a non-stop flight direct from London to Israel’s Lydda Airport. In the party to bid farewell to Mr. Ben-Gurion were members of the Israel mission, led by Ambassador Arthur Lourie; Sir Francis Rundall, former British Ambassador to Israel; and several leaders of British Jewry, including Sir Simon Marks and Israel Sieff. The plane took off at 2:54 p.m., London time.
“I am leaving this country,” Mr. Ben-Gurion said at the airport, “with a deep sense of gratitude for the kind hospitality extended to me. I was glad to meet the Prime Minister and members of his Cabinet, as well as many old friends, at the luncheon given to me by the Prime Minister on the first day of my arrival in London for the first time since the re-establishment of our State.
“In the conversations I held the same evening, at 10 Downing Street, with the Prime Minister and the Foreign Secretary, we discussed the situation in the Middle East and the world at large. I met also Mr. and Mrs. Hugh Gaitskell (Mr. Gaitskell is the leader of the Labor Party), whom I had met before in Israel, as well as many of our Jewish friends from the Zionist Organization and from the Board of Deputies of British Jews.”
Mr. Ben-Gurion concluded his departure statement by recalling that he had had “a very pleasant rest in a country hotel” at Oxford where he indulged “in my vice” of book browsing, purchasing a number of books at Blackwell’s and other book shops.
The Times of London declared in an editorial today that Mr. Ben-Gurion “seems well satisfied” with his talks in Washington and London. The editorial stated:
“Presumably, he now believes that an East-West detente, after the Summit conference, will not include a Middle East agreement, arranged without consultation with Israel, at her expense. This he was said to have feared. Presumably, also, he now considers Israel can count on support if attacked, and upon assistance over defensive weapons–jet aircraft or anti-aircraft missiles, for instance–if the armament of her Arab neighbors is sizably increased.”
Referring to Israel’s “concern” over the mounting costs of defense, especially in view of “probable economic difficulties” that may face Israel in the next few years, the Times editorial concluded: “It is small wonder, therefore, that the Israelis are endeavoring to encourage investment and to expand exports, in particular the products of light industry, and that they view with concern the mounting costs of defense.”
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