Prime Minister David Ben Gurion reportedly expressed his view, during a 30-minute meeting today with Jacques Soustelle, head of a 22-man French Parliamentary delegation currently visiting Israel, that a de facto Franco-Israeli alliance was already in existence.
Mr. Ben Gurion was understood to have taken that stand after Mr. Soustelle reiterated his conviction that a formal alliance was necessary. The Premier’s comment led to speculation that he did not necessarily favor formal alliances for alliance’s sake alone.
The belief of the French delegation in the need for a formal alliance was stressed last night by Mr. Soustelle in a speech before the Israeli-French Friendship League when the French leader said the need stemmed not only from goodwill between the two countries but also from the basic needs of both nations in the Middle East. Mr. Soustelle told the meeting that if Israel had not been in existence, the world would by now have witnessed Syrian “volunteers” with Russian weapons participating in the North African rebellion.
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