There are circumstances in which the defense of Israel could be bound up with a system of regional defense of the Middle East, Premier Moshe Sharett told the Israel Parliament last night. However, Mr. Sharett did not elaborate on just what such circumstances are or whether they would arise in the forseeable future.
Mr. Sharett’s statement was made during a discussion of a motion, subsequently rejected, calling on the Israel Government to withdraw its request for military aid from the United States, Mr. Sharett noted that the U.S. had not yet replied to Israel’s request, although it was willing to sell arms to the Jewish State.
He also stated that even if the United States were prepared to give Israel such assistance it did not “follow” that Israel could accept it, since such aid would be offered under certain conditions which the Israel Government would have to weigh carefully.
In a discussion of the draft of Orthodox women in the Knesset, the Premier denounced the demonstration in front of the Israel consulate in New York last week by several thousand Orthodox men and women who were protesting the conscription of Orthodox women in Israel, Mr. Sharett asserted that the demonstration had resulted from “malicious misrepresentations” of the law, adding that these misrepresentations had been spread “by elements hostile to Israel and Zionism.”
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