Attorney General Edwin Meese assured American Jewish leaders at a private briefing last week that the “security and military supremacy of Israel” were the keystone of the Reagan Administration’s Middle East policy. At the same time, he defended U.S. arms sales to moderate Arab states.
Meese, former White House Chief of Staff, addressed a meeting chaired by Kenneth Bialkin, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations. It was arranged by Jacob Stein, a past chairman of the Conference and a former advisor to President Reagan.
“We will never endanger Israel’s ability to defend itself. That is a firm commitment,” Meese told the Jewish leaders. He said the Administration’s aims are to protect the Middle East from Soviet incursion or from being dominated by Soviet-oriented states in the region and to promote peace negotiations “without sacrificing our relations with Israel.”
He justified arms sales to some Arab states as “a balancing act” between the need to maintain Israel’s military superiority and the value of providing weapons to moderate Arab states “with strings attached” or forcing them to seek arms from the Soviet Union “where we have no control or influence whatsoever.”
Meese also expressed the “absolute commitment” of the Administration to the right of Soviet Jews to emigrate and to express their religion and culture. “We raise the issue at every opportunity and we will continue to in every forum” with the Soviets, he said.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
