Sen. Frank Church (D. Idaho), chairman of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, warned here that America must not become victim to the “Arabized State Department” and called for bold, firm action to reassure Israel that “the United States stands solidly behind Israel in its efforts to implement the Camp David accord with Egypt, which remains the only sound basis for peace in the Middle East.”
Church made his remarks before more than 500 leaders of the furniture industry at a nationwide Israel Bond dinner of tribute to Nathan Ancell, chairman of the board of Ethan Allen, Inc. at the Sheraton Centre. Ancell received the Israel Prime Minister’s Medal. The event produced more than $3 million in investment capital for Israel’s economic development.
The Senator said that he was worried about “a new doctrine of appeasement” which calls for “a grand design” for energy sufficiency which is aimed at weakening Israel’s position in the world.
“Some candidates are saying that the energy crisis can only be solved by changing our policy in the Middle East,” Church said. “They want us to trade Israel’s sovereignty for Arab oil. You and I know that our fuel shortage cannot be solved that way. The Arab states and the other OPEC nations are running a business based on good engineering principles and the highest price that the market will bear — and this has absolutely nothing to do with Israel.”
Church also assessed the situation in Iran, which he compared to Israel’s experiences in the past, and declared that, like Israel, “we Americans above all else must never, never bend to blackmail.” The events in Iran and in the Islamic world “have driven home a lesson to American officials,” he declared. “Never before was it clearer that we have no stronger, more steady and steadfast ally than Israel. We can always depend on Israel in moments of crisis and need.”
The Camp David accords represent a reversal of U.S. policy which previously was the seeking of a “comprehensive settlement — the all or nothing concept — which was an illusion, one which some of our Arabist ‘experts’ are still obsessed with,” Church asserted.
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