High official sources here today revealed that President Eisenhower has personally decided against approval of the Israel arms list at this time and ordered Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to suspend action on the matter until United Nations peace moves are attempted.
However, late in the evening, White House spokesman James Hagerty said that the Israel request for arms was still “under study and consideration.” This was taken by some to mean the President’s stand on the Israel arms request had changed, and that he was again considering action on Israel’s arms application. The earlier report said that President Eisenhower’s decision against selling arms to Israel was taken at a White House meeting last Wednesday and that Secretary Dulles recommended to the President against approval of Israel’s request.
The Washington high officials who revealed Mr. Eisenhower’s decision, of last Wednesday, said that the Israel arms question emerged at White Sulphur Springs, W. Va. They said that at White Sulphur Springs Mr. Eisenhower was urged by Canada to approve Israel’s arms list. They also indicated that Mr. Eisenhower, although he banned the sale of arms for the present, had not ruled out on Wednesday the possibility of a future decision to revive consideration and sell Israel the arms it had ordered.
There was a good deal of confusion in Washington over the fact that the White House found it necessary to becloud Mr. Eisenhower’s decision by announcing in the evening that Israel’s application is “under study.” It was believed that the confusion resulted from the fact that leaders of the Republican Party objected to the fact State Department officials made public Mr. Eisenhower’s decision. It was said that they insisted that the refusal to grant arms to Israel should be kept secret and that the general line of public comment should be that the matter was still being studied.
Secretary Dulles will be questioned by newsmen tomorrow on the Israel arms list and other questions arising from the Middle Eastern situation. The Secretary will meet the press for the first time since his Asian trip. Meanwhile. State Department spokesman Lincoln White today said the Department would make no comment and that he had heard nothing about reports that simultaneous negotiations for Israel purchase of Russian munitions are going on in Jerusalem and Moscow. He was asked about such reports at a press briefing.
Secretary Dulles today received Reuben Kaminsky, national commander of the Jewish War Veterans of America. Mr. Kaminsky communicated to him the views of his organization of U.S. appeasement of Saudi Arabian discrimination against American Jews.
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