The Netherlands being held hostage by Arab powers is a situation of “much greater magnitude than what we are witnessing in Iran,” according to Ephraim Evron, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States.
Evron spoke to some 3000 delegates at the opening session of Hadassah’s annual convention here last night. The convention which ends Wednesday launches the Henrietta Szold 120th anniversary year.
Holland, under severe pressure from Arab countries to move its embassy from Jerusalem since the Knesset adopted the Jerusalem law, is still trying to decide whether to make the move. The pressure has intensified since the United Nations Security Council adopted a resolution by a 14-0 vote last week calling for the removal of all embassies from Jerusalem.
DENOUNCES U.S. ABSTENTION AT UN COUNCIL
Evron issued a scathing condemnation of the United States’ abstention on that vote. “This failure to act is a source of great danger to Israel and the United States,” he said. “The Security Council actions have contributed to the present stalemate in the negotiations between Israel and Egypt. Their latest action was immoral, hypocritical and has no force. Even United States Secretary of State (Edmund) Muskie called the vote ‘fundamentally flawed’ and yet the United States did not veto the resolution.”
Evron called on the Egyptian government to resume the stalled autonomy talks which Egyptian President Anwar Sadat recently called off. “Sadat has suspended negotiations for the fourth time since Camp David,” he said. “We call upon him to resume. Egypt’s hope of a change in United States policy here after the elections (for pressure on Israel) are pipe dreams.” Evron declared that “no amount of pressure will make us accept anything we believe is the beginning of the end for us.”
When asked if the latest UN vote symbolized a shift in basic American policy toward Israel, the Ambassador replied that there are disagreements on U.S. policy, especially in the UN, but considering President Carter’s statement at the Democratic National Convention that the U.S. will not pressure Israel, “we must conclude that there is no basic shift.”
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