Kennedy Raps U.S. Policy Toward Israel

Sen. Edward Kennedy (D.Moss.) charged today that the Carter Administration has shifted its policy toward Israel and cited as evidence of this the U.S. support of the UN Security Council’s anti-Israel resolution of March 1, even though it was subsequently discovered by President Carter.

Kennedy declared that the U.S. vote was not only a “blunder of major significance and proportions” but also a reversal of U.S. policy that extended for beyond the Jerusalem issue. Speaking to Jewish journalists at the Sheraton Inn at LaGuardia Airport this afternoon, he challenged Carter’s explanation that the vote was a “mistake” due to a failure in communications. “Why did they have to wait two days to decide it was a mistake?” he asked.

He called on the Administration to waive executive privilege in a Congressional inquiry on this issue scheduled for this week, so that the facts of the episode can be made available to the American people and so that the American people will know whether there has been a major shift in U.S. policy.

“This is not just a Jewish issue,” he said, “but a foreign policy issue in area of the world that is vital to American security So every American should be concerned with Carter’s apparent shift in policy toward Israel as contained in the UN resolution.”

Kennedy was joined at the press conference by Dr. Benjamin Levich, the highest ranking Jewish scientist ever allowed to emigrate from the Soviet Union. Levich left the USSR on November 30, 1978 following intervention by Kennedy on his behalf. Levich said Kennedy’s “concern and the persistence of his efforts on my behalf resulted in my being allowed to leave.” Kennedy said in response that he regards the Soviet Jewry issue as one of “highest priority” and “in a Kennedy Administration we will continue to make this a major concern.”