Informed sources here said today that Israel would ask the major powers, particularly the United States, for additional defensive arms to offset the arms which the United States began to airlift to King Hussein of Jordan yesterday.
Israel, it was asserted, would await completion of the shipments to Jordan before drawing the attention of Western Powers to Israel’s view that the new United States military aid to Jordan represented a break in security stability and to ask action to remedy the break.
Although the Jordan border has been generally calm in recent weeks, Israel was said to feel that all of its borders must be protected to an equal degree in view of the “fluidity” of the internal situations in Arab countries.
Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, the Israel Chief of Staff, declared today that the Israeli Army was “on the alert and ready for any possible attack” from Israel’s foes. He expressed the hope that the Arabs would not push for a military confrontation with Israel.
The Chief of Staff made his remarks during an inspection of a parade of the Golani Brigade which concluded exercises in southern Israel.
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.
