Herbert Morrison, former Foreign Secretary of Great Britain, today called on the United States and Great Britain to realize that giving the Arabs military assistance “in such a way as to endanger the military security of Israel” would be a “bad thing.”
Mr. Morrison told an Israel bond dinner that “if Israel were endangered, it would be a great loss to a fine democratic experiment in a part of the world that badly needs successful democracy.” He called on the Arab states to “sit down at a table with representatives of Israel” to arrange a “real peace” and agree on boundaries.
The former British Cabinet member termed “unreasonable” the fact that, five years after the armistice between Israel and the Arabs, a state of war still technically exists. “There is an economic boycott of Israel by the Arabs,” he pointed out. “Transport through the Suez Canal is denied by Egypt to Israel. Were it not for the fact that on the West there is a considerable Israel coastline facing the Mediterranean Sea, the country would be in a difficult situation.”
Reporting on a trip to Israel during May, 1954, Mr. Morrison referred to the “public spirit” and “self-sacrificing efforts” of the Jews of Israel. It is for this reason, he said, that he was happy to come to the United States and to speak on behalf of the efforts being conducted for the sale of Israel bonds. “Without external financial and economic aid,” the British statesman continued, “Israel could not have done the great job that it has done in democratic, social and economic development.”
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.
