Members of Congress Urge U.S. to Provide Security for Israel

A number of Democratic members of Congress indicated today that they were not inclined to accept the proposal by Secretary of State John Foster Dulles to exempt the Arab-Israel issue from discussion until after the Presidential elections.

They were joined by Governor C. Mennen Williams of Michigan, an important contender for the Democratic Presidential nomination, who declared at the National Press Club here that American defensive arms should be given to Israel to maintain the balance of military power in the Middle East. He said that the fundamental problem is not Israel’s need for arms but the lack of a positive American policy in the Middle East.

At the same time, Senator Theodore Francis Green, a Democrat and member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today ruled out U. S. military assistance and a bilateral security treaty with Israel. In a report on a study mission in the Middle East, he said that the United States must avoid as situation where it becomes identified as pro-Israel while the Soviet Union becomes identified as pro-Arab.

Sen. Green said the ultimate solution to the Arab-Israel problem lies with the parties themselves, assisted by the United Nations. He admitted that the Egyptian arms deal with Czechoslovakia increased the possibility of war between the Arab states and Israel and predicted that this possibility will tend to increase as the Egyptians feel stronger and the Israelis feel their military superiority diminishing.

WANT U.S. WARNING TO ARABS NOT TO ACCEPT MORE ARMS FROM SOVIETS

Among the Democratic Congressmen who today indicated their intention of keeping the Arab-Israel issue alive were: Rep. Peter Rodino of New Jersey, Rep, John Dingell Congress attention to the joint statement issued by former President Harry Truman, Mrs. Franklin D. Roosevelt and labor leader Walter P. Reuther urging the U.S. to supply arms to Israel. He suggested that the statement should be made known by members of Congress to the heads of the American and British Governments now conferring in Washington on the Middle East.

Rep. Rodino urged the U.S. to give arms to Israel and conclude security treaties with each of the nations in the Middle East. Israel, he said, must have defensive arms so that “her people may not be exposed to imminent annihilation.” Rep. Dingell said that the Arab countries must be given “immediate instruction that unless they cease accepting Russian arms at once and notify the U. S. of their intent to do so within 48 hours we will take necessary steps to protect not only the interests of America and the free world but of Israel,” and make available “such offensive and defensive arms as we might deem necessary to Israel’s defense.”

Rep. James P. Richards, chairman of the House Foreign Affairs Committee, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that in his talks with Secretary Dulles on January 20, neither he nor Mr. Dulles had mentioned the question of sending arms to Israel, nor had there been any mention of any legislation connected with it.

The report on the Richards-Dulles meeting, which had originated in Congressional circles, had asserted that Rep. Richards had told Mr. Dulles that “Zionist pressure” to secure action on the Israel application should be overlooked in the final determination of policy. Rep. Richards stated: “There was never in our conversations any mention of Zionist pressure or of any other kind of pressure.” Rep. Richards added: “I had the privilege of attending a conference in Washington in the last ten days; at which I heard and respected the views of the Zionist leadership on all these issues just as I would the views of all other Americans.”