Jerusalem Stresses Importance of U.S. Stand on Arms Sale to Israel

The State Department weekend disclosure that the United States has sold a number of Patton tanks to Israel led Israeli sources here today to comment that while the security aspect of the transaction was its most important aspect, it also had considerable political importance.

These sources said that the State Department stand that the transaction was meant to prevent an arms imbalance in the Middle East reaffirmed United States recognition of the need for Israel to maintain a reasonable military strength as a deterrent to aggression.

At the same time, these sources noted that the State Department had indicated that the decision to provide the tanks was made several months ago, meaning that it was prompted by the imbalance that already then existed. Since then, it was noted, Egypt had received additional weapons and other Arab countries had received arms commitments from the United States and Britain which had increased the imbalance considerably.

(In Washington, Rep. Leonard Farbstein, New York Democratic member of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, today commended the State Department for publicly announcing the sale of tanks and other military equipment to Israel. He said that he learned of the transactions some time ago and insisted that the news be released by the State Department because Arab intelligence was already aware of the deal and that announcement would serve notice on the Arab public that the United States “intends to maintain the arms balance in the area,”)