Sen. Edward Kennedy (D.Mass.), who is seeking the Democratic Party’s nomination for the Presidency, has charged that President Carter’s explanation of the U.S. vote for the anti-Israel resolution in the United Nations Security Council March I and the President’s repudiation of the vote two days later was “totally and completely inadequate.”
“It’s not that I don’t think Mr. Carter read the document (the UN resolution) the first time, I don’t think Carter read the document the second time,” Kennedy told some 5000 persons at Congregation B’nai Jeshurun in Manhattan last Sunday. Kennedy, who was campaigning for today’s New York Presidential primary, was questioned by Dr. William Berkowitz, rabbi of the congregation, as part of a special Presidential Dialogue series. Berkowitz said all the major candidates had been invited and Kennedy was the first to accept.
Asked by Berkowitz about the Carter Mideast policy, Kennedy, in turn, asked: “What Mideast policy? Which one?” The answer evoked loud audience applause and cheers. Speaking of the way the U.S. handled and subsequently explained its UN vote, Kennedy called it “an unwise, broad-scale attack on Israel,” adding: “If you have a policy that’s precise, predictable and certain with regard to Israel, our finest ally in the Middle East and the country that anchors our security interest-there, you would not have voted even for a revised UN resolution.”
The Senator charged that the resolution undermines “the basis of the negotiations” between Israel and Egypt, noted that it charged the designation of the term administered territories which “have been used for years and years” into the term occupied territories and observed that it condemned new Jewish immigration to Israel. “What kind of message does that send to Syrian Jews or Soviet Jews or any Jews in the world who want to immigrate?” he asked.
Kennedy said that he was “strongly opposed to a Palestinian state which “would be a dagger at the heart of Israel.” Declaring that he was also opposed to negotiations with the PLO which is “committed to the destruction of Israel,” Kennedy declared: “It makes no sense to include any destructive force in the negotiating process.” Regarding the West Bank settlements and Jerusalem, Kennedy said it was “unwise” for the U.S. to dictate its views on the settlements but should leave the matter to negotiations between the parties involved. He also affirmed his support for an undivided Jerusalem.
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