A contention by Sen. Howard H. Baker Jr, (R, Tenn.) that the letter to President Ford signed by 76 Senators urging continued economic and military support for Israel was an ill-timed “mistake” was disputed here by B’nai B’rith president David M. Blumberg. Baker, a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, said upon his return from a Middle East tour, that the letter was likely to harden Arab attitudes and limit Ford’s maneuverability to promote a Mideast settlement.
But Blumberg, addressing the B’nai B’rith District 7 convention here, said the bipartisan action responded to “vagueness and ambiguities” regarding the Ford Administration’s reassessment of American policy in the Mideast, He said the letter had the effect of “not hobbling but strengthening” Ford’s efforts to overcome diplomatic stagnation in the area, By affirming American sentiment and policy,” Blumberg declared, “the Senate helped diminish many mistaken Arab notions that American support for Israel is eroding and there is no need to negotiate.” Sen. Charles Mathias, Jr. (R. Md.), one of the signers of the letter, told the 300 delegates that the letter was also intended as “a clear message” to the Soviet Union of American intentions.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
