Rep. Leonard Farbstein, New York Democrat and House Foreign Affairs Committee member, today made a House speech renewing his defense of Israel’s role in the extradition controversy involving Dr. Robert A. Soblen.
Asking “why blame Israel?” Rep. Farbstein said Israel had been unfairly abused and bullied in the Soblen case. He said the most recent events had “confirmed the validity of the facts as I saw them, that the disposition of Soblen currently hinged on British responsibility rather than any further responsibility of the State of Israel.”
Rep. Farbstein deplored the singling out of Israel for unilateral blame in the Soblen affair. He said that, whoever was negligent, “in not keeping an eagle eye on Soblen either in New York or upon that plane, it is surely not the Israelis whom we can blame for that.” He said Britain had spent weeks attempting to pass its responsibility off onto Israel, rather than acting with dispatch as Israel did in the deportation action.
He pointed out that Israel had established compelling evidence of friendship for America for over 14 years. He felt that annoyance over a secondary issue had caused some to ignore Israel-American friendship to “abuse and bully our sincerest and most genuine friend.”
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