Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger was warned today by Prof. Hans J. Morgenthau that the United States must refrain “from exerting pressures which can only lead to Israel’s piecemeal dismemberment.” Prof. Morgenthau, a consistent critic of efforts at detente between the United States and the Soviet Union, issued the warning in an open letter as chairman of the National Committee on American Foreign Policy.
Citing the fate of Czechoslovakia after the 1938 Munich settlement, Prof. Morgenthau declared that the U.S. “must not pursue a policy of peace at any price, blind to Arab and Soviet objectives.” He accused the Soviet Union of ignoring the requirements of detente in connection with the Yom Kippur War when it knew of the impending Syrian-Egyptian attack on Israel, when it “incited” other Arab states to join in the war, and when it urged the oil-producing Arab states to continue the oil embargo against the United States.
Prof. Morgenthau said that, in bidding for Arab favor, the U.S. had developed a new posture in the Middle East, “shifting in a pro-Arab direction.” despite the “unchanged objective of all Arab states, ‘moderate’ as well as radical, to destroy Israel.” He said the risk for both the United States and Israel in such a new U.S. policy “lies in the ability of the Soviet Union to outbid the United States in supporting the Arabs against Israel.” He noted that this competition could result in the U.S. pressuring Israel “to make ever more far-reaching concessions until its very existence would be jeopardized.”
Prof. Morgenthau declared also that “if the Soviet Union can compete successfully with the United States for the Arabs’ favor only at the price of Israel’s destruction. it will not hesitate to help the Arabs attain that objective.” He added “it appears the Soviets are rearming the Arab armies on a massive scale.” He also said that “phony detente can be used by one side as a cover behind which to do the other in.”
Among the signers of the open letter were Dr. A. Roy Eckhardt of Lehigh University, a leading Christian supporter of Israel; Dr. Franklin H. Littell of Temple University, also a Christian supporter of Israel: Dr. Bernhard E. Olson of the National Conference of Christians and Jews; and Dr. James H. Sheldon of the Research Center for Religion and Human Rights.
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