Vice-President Gerald Ford told Bnai Zion here tonight that “a large share” of the credit for the Suez disengagement accord “accrues to the courage, goodwill and vision of leaders in both Egypt and Israel” and disclosed that Secretary of State Henry Kissinger “has already conveyed some initial Syrian ideas on disengagement to the government of Israel.” Ford said that “we are, of course, addressing ourselves to the issue of Israeli prisoners of war held by Syria.” He added that “humanitarian considerations indi- cate that Syria and Israel should exchange full lists of prisoners and that both sides permit Red Cross visits to POW camps.”
The Vice President spoke at the 66th annual award dinner of the American Fraternal Zionist Organization where he was presented with the order’s 1974 America-Israel Friendship Gold Medal “in recognition of his outstanding contributions to the furtherance of America-Israel friendship.” He said he was “very proud” that American diplomacy “relieved the dangerous global pressure point at the Suez Canal,” adding that Egypt and Israel “now have the opportunity to implement a scenario of peace step by step in such a manner as to build mutual confidence.” Kissinger is leaving tomorrow for the Mideast on a new round of talks aimed at an Israeli-Syrian disengagement accord.
Ford said the expulsion of Alexander Solzhenitsyn was regrettable but that it should not affect the Nixon Administration’s efforts for detente with the Soviet Union, which Ford credited for the fact that “some 35,000 Soviet Jews have found new homes in Israel.”
The Vice President linked U.S. military aid to Israel in the Yom Kippur war with the expanded defense budget proposed by the Nixon Administration. He said that, during the war, “specific material shortages were brought to light” and that “the new budget would increase our airlift capacity to deploy forces overseas in time of emergency.” He said “an era of peace is within reach–for the super powers as well as the Middle Eastern countries” but that “to reach that objective we have no alternative but to maintain a strong defense.”
NIXON, FORD PRAISED FOR EFFORTS
Rabbi Israel Miller, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, told the 1,600 Zionist and Jewish communal leaders that the U.S. “has made it clear that it will not sacrifice Israel to Soviet aggrandizement and to Arab aggression, not only because of its own global interests, but because of the fundamental moral posture of our country.” Rabbi Miller said “we express our gratitude to the Vice President and through him to the President for their support of Israel.”
He said that Kissinger’s plans to confer with Syria on disengagement “looms large in our concerns” because Syria “has been the most intransigent of Israel’s Arab border-neighbors.” He denounced Syria’s “brutal treatment of Israeli prisoners of war and its inhumane and uncivilized refusal to abide by the Geneva Convention and release the names of the POWs and permit them to be visited by the International Red Cross.”
Messages were announced at the dinner from various officials including President Nixon, Israeli President Ephraim Katzir, Premier Golda Meir, and Israeli Foreign Minister Abba Eban. Nixon said Ford’s “deep-rooted commitment to the friendship between our country and the State of Israel has been further enhanced by the humanitarian compassion and civic concern that characterize so many of your organization’s programs.”
Katzir lauded Ford as “a staunch and perceptive champion of the cause of strengthening the bonds of friendship between Israel and the United States.” Mrs. Meir called him a “great American leader whose whole career bears testimony to his profound humanitarianism, his fearless support for freedom everywhere and his genuine friendship for Israel.” Eban lauded Ford for his “efforts to strengthen the bonds of friendship between the people of the United States and the people of Israel” and for his “unswerving and meaningful championship of the State of Israel in its struggle for peace and security.”
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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.
