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Israel Diflomat Scores U.S. Unilateral Grants of Arms to Arabs

March 22, 1955
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Unilateral grants of arms to Arab states, which change the balance of power in the Middle East and greatly disturb the people in Israel, were scored here yesterday by Avraham Harman, Israel’s Consul General in New York, addressing 2,000 members of the Council of Organizations of the United Jewish Appeal, representing more than 1,000,000 Jews.

Declaring that Israel has always been willing to make peace, Mr. Harman said: “While there is no peace, the availability of such arms is calculated to increase the danger of Arab aggression against Israel unless it is promptly counterbalanced by the simultaneous strengthening of Israel and by making it explicitly clear to all concerned that aggression against Israel will not be tolerated.”

Commenting on the oft-stated fact that the Arab nations are still in a “technical” state of war with Israel, he maintained that “there is nothing ‘technical’ “about a situation which results in “a very real, tangible form of warfare, ” including “casualties, sabotage, pillage and theft” and which “on four occasions dynamited the main water irrigation system of the Negev,” the lifeline of all the villages in that area of Israel.

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