Rep. Jonathan B. Bingham (D.NY) has told the House of Representatives that the U.S. must continue its “concrete and moral” support for Israel despite the failure of Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger’s failure to negotiate a second Egyptian-Israeli interim agreement.
The Secretary’s failure, Bingham said, “Is no cause for the kind of reappraisal of our policies in the Middle East that President Ford has called for.” Noting that U.S. policies have been based on a determination to provide Israel with the support she needed to survive as a vibrant and viable nation, Bingham said, “surely this basic policy is not subject to review.”
“Israel took great risks and offered Egypt substantial concessions,” Bingham said in decrying suggestions that Israeli “intransigence” caused the breakdown in negotiations. He urged Congress to keep clear that Egypt’s role in the negotiations “was to demand much and offer nothing.”
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