Premier David Ben Gurion today denied in Parliament left-wing charges that Abba Eban, Israel’s Ambassador to Washington, had told an Israel bond conference in Washington last month that Israel was prepared to put 200,000 troops into the field on the side of the United States against the Soviet Union in case of need.
Replying to charges by Mapam deputy Itzhak Ben Aharon and left-wing leader Dr.Moshe Sneh that Mr. Eban and Henry Morgenthau, Jr., head of the Israel bond organization in the United States, had made such statements at the Washington parley, the Premier said that reports in the Israel press about Mr. Eban were absolutely false. What Mr. Eban said, the Premier insisted, was that Israel would be able to defend its own borders and government.
Referring to the charges against Mr. Morgenthau, the Premier declared: “The questioners know perfectly well that every American citizen is free to make any utterances in the United States, but that no American citizen represents Israel.” He added that even if Mr. Morgenthau had made the statements attributed to him,”it concerns neither the questioners nor the Israel Government.”
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