Israel’s two evening newspapers – Maariv and Yediot Ahronot – were the first to comment today on President-elect Richard M. Nixon’s choice of a Cabinet. Both papers agreed with a large segment of the American press which said that in the are of foreign affairs, the selection of William P. Rogers as Secretary of State-designate indicated that the President himself will conduct foreign policy. Both papers called on Israel to augment its diplomatic efforts by a drive to promote Israel’s viewpoint throughout the world. The papers contrasted Israel’s comparative silence with the Soviet, Arab and French campaigns directed against Israel and intended to impose a solution to the Middle East deadlock from the outside. Maariv commented that Judging by Mr. Nixon’s past statements, he was not likely to agree to such a course. “We are sure that Mr. Scranton will correctly report the position of Israel and her Government but a further clarification of it cannot hurt,” Maariv said.
(The Washington Star, in a front page analysis of the political thinking of new Cabinet members, reported today that Secretary of State-designate William P. Rogers is “pro-NATO, pro-Israel, and pro-foreign aid.” But asking what effects his beliefs will have in practice, it simply said: “Who knows?”)
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