Congressional Body Reports Assurance of U.S. Grant Aid to Israel

The Administration has assured the House Foreign Affairs Committee that American grants in aid to Israel will be continued during the coming fiscal year at the current level, it was revealed in a report issued by the Committee yesterday. The current level of American grant aid to Israel is $7, 500, 000 a year.

In its report, the Committee noted that Israel still suffered from an adverse trade balance and that it is in need of hard currency for oil, which Israel cannot purchase from its Arab neighbors, as well as for industrial imports, since Israel’s economy is not as yet on a self-sustaining basis.

The report declared: “The Committee is of the opinion that special assistance to Israel should be continued at the current level in the 1960 fiscal year program. ” Administration witnesses assured the Committee, according to the report, of their willingness to give effect to the Committee’s views.

The Administration had planned originally to discontinue special grant aid to Israel in fiscal 1960. After members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee and the Senate Foreign Relations Committee voiced opposition to this intention, Undersecretary of State C. Douglas Dillon expressed willingness to reconsider the earlier decision, but did not commit himself definitely to restore Israel to the grant aid list. However, the language used by the Committee in its report implies that now a firm commitment has been received from the Administration.

Israeli circles here are gratified by the development. Yaacov Herzog, Israeli Charge d’Affaires here, expressed his appreciation to Undersecretary of State Robert Murphy and Assistant Secretary of State William Rountree for the State Department’s attitude of taking into account the economic situation in Israel.