Foreign Minister Abba Eban called President Anwar Sadat’s speech to Egyptian troops yesterday a combination of “military threats and political extortion” and declared that Israel would not yield to either, Eban made his remarks to foreign correspondents here. Sadat’s speech was not discussed at today’s Cabinet meeting according to government secretary Michael Arnon. Eban said the speech in which the Egyptian President said that he has decided on war with Israel because there is no longer a chance for a peaceful settlement showed “a blatant disregard of the aspirations and interests of peace loving people everywhere.”
Eban said that while Israel will not be intimidated, it must take Sadat at his word. By refusing genuine peace and insisting on threats. Sadat can bring nothing but disaster on his nation and region. Eban said. “It is time to stop the bombast and begin free and fair negotiation,” the Israeli Foreign Minister said. He reiterated his country’s standing offer to negotiate an honorable interim accord over the Suez Canal or an overall settlement negotiated by both sides under the auspices of United Nations mediator Gunnar Jarring in which each side can present its solution without ultimatums or prior conditions.
Eban told the Cabinet today that there has been no change in the American embargo on the supply of more Phantom jets to Israel despite confirmation that the Soviet Union was providing Egypt with potent new weapons. He said there was no justification for withholding the Phantoms before Nov. 1 at which date the US State Department claimed the Middle East power balance had not shifted and there certainly was none now.
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