The Soviet Union was severely criticized in Israeli circles today for Moscow’s delivery of three submarines to Egypt at a time when the USSR has been casting itself in the role of a pacifying force in the Middle East.
These circles stressed that the introduction of such weapons, for the first time, are hardly conducive to peace in the region, particularly when placed in the hands of a government which claims and perpetrates acts of belligerency against Israel. This action was seen as indicating that all Soviet moves toward lessening Middle East tension, such as notes to the Western Powers, are illusory.
The Israelis draw an “ominous parallel” between the submarine deliveries and the 1955 Czech-Egyptian arms deal. In both cases, they pointed out, the Soviet Union introduced new and modern arms which did not previously exist in the arsenals of the Middle East states, and in both cases the USSR acted after public feelers toward a lessening of East West tensions.
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