Israel’s Parliament rejected today motions by the Communist and Mapam parties for a debate on the. Soviet proposal for the setting up of a nuclear-free status for the Mediterranean area,
The action followed a statement by Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Minister, in which she called the motions “non-realistic. ” She said that the threat to Israel’s security was not from “non-existent nuclear weapons in the region” which the Soviet proposal and the makers of the motions sought to outlaw. The real threat, she said, was from the bombers, tanks, submarines and “perhaps rockets” which the Arab countries were continually s stockpiling.
Challenged by Communist leader Shmuel Mikunis to state why she considered the motions unrealistic, she retorted: “Because the main supplier of arms to the Arab states is not ready to halt those supplies. ” This was an unmistakable reference to the Soviet Union.
Mrs. Meir also reminded the House that Israel’s policy was for total disarmament of Arabs and Israel alike under mutual or United Nations supervision. She added that Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s communication to Soviet Premier Khrushchev–which was made before Israel received the Soviet leader’s nuclear free zone proposal and which reiterated Israel’s readiness to accept total disarmament–was still unanswered.
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