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Democratic Senators Assail Administration’s Israel Policy As Jeopardy to Peace

January 27, 1970
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A number of Democratic Senators took the Senate floor Monday to assail the administration’s policy on Israel. Sen. Joseph Tydings, Maryland, said “I fear a dangerous retrogression in U.S. policy is occurring.” He condemned the government’s Middle East peace proposals, depicting this initiative as a source of jeopardy to Israel. The Senator said the United States was “morally committed to the preservation of Israel as a Jewish homeland.”

Sen. Abraham Ribicoff, of Connecticut, charged that the State Department has been “outclassed and out maneuvered” by the Soviet Union in the Middle East. He said “we have been left with egg a la russe on our face as a result of the Soviet backtracking while the Israelis are now faced with a serious undercutting of their bargaining position. Regrettably, significant concessions were offered, without consultation, by Israel’s only major ally, the United States.” Sen. Ribicoff said administration policy was undermining Israel but winning no new friends among the Arabs. He asserted that the administration had played into the hands of the Soviet Union. In his view, the U.S. had, by proposing a detailed settlement, too quickly encouraged Arab hostilities and allowed the Arabs to avoid a real settlement.

He said the United States was attempting to bring about “an imposed settlement.”

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