Jacob K. Javits. Attorney General of the State of New York, yesterday urged the submission to the U.S. Congress by President Eisenhower of a resolution “affirming our country’s determination to prevent any war of aggression on the armistice borders between the Arab states and Israel.”
Mr. Javits pointed to the resolution which was enacted “in an analogous situation,” by the Congress with respect to Formosa in January, 1955 even giving authority to use our armed forces for the purpose. He spoke before a group of Zionist leaders at a reception tendered him by the Commission on Israel and the Middle East of the Zionist Organization of America, on the occasion of his recent return from a visit to Israel.
Harry Torczyner, chairman of the Commission, said that “paper pacts cannot protect the United States. The tearing down of the American flag in Jordan by bribed violent mobs once more stresses the need for true allies in the Near East. Together with Israel we have to fight in the Near East against Communism which is the political cancer produced by disease, poverty and misery.”
In his address, Mr. Javits, who last week conferred with Secretary of State John Foster Dulles in Washington, emphasized that “our country cannot allow war to break out in Near East or permit the Communists to capture it.” He added that the “situation has gotten far beyond the intransigent refusal of the Arabs to recognize Israel or to help resettle the Palestine-Arab refugees; indeed, at the moment beyond issues of backward social, economic and living conditions or military rule.”
The speaker further expressed the view that the recent incident between Israel and Syria on the shores of Lake Tiberias, shows what happens when Israel’s people are put under the intolerable pressure of a delayed decision to ensure their ability to defend themselves by giving them a commitment for arms for self-defense. They are thereby made to feel that they are strictly on their own and are driven to desperate measures.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
