Premier Golda Meir told an overflow audience of more than 3000 Jewish leaders attending the Israel Bond Organization Inaugural Dinner here last night that her meetings in Washington with President Nixon and other top U.S. officials were “wonderful and inspiring.” The Israeli leader said of her talk with Nixon in the White House Thursday that the President “never assumes a position of superiority, in talks with the Prime Minister of a small country,” and she added, the President knows “there’s always something we want him to do.”
Mrs. Meir said she was “convinced that this President and his predecessors understood our determination to live in dignity and freedom and that he (Nixon) believes that we honestly want to live in peace with our neighbors.” She added, “No president would be so forthcoming if he doubted our honesty in the struggle for peace.”
The Premier, however, divulged nothing of substance of her Washington talks which included, in addition to her meeting with Nixon a three-hour luncheon meeting with Acting Secretary of State Kenneth Rush and a meeting at the Pentagon with Defense Secretary Elliot Richardson.
Mrs. Meir concluded her round of talks in Washington with a two-hour breakfast meeting Friday morning with nine Senators, four of them members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee. None of the Senators would reveal the details of their discussions with the Premier. Sen. Edward Kennedy (D. Mass.) said the discussions were “full and informed.” Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R. NY), said “The Prime Minister was very forthcoming on all subjects including the Libyan airliner tragedy which left every Senator with the feeling that Israel is pursuing a course she is compelled upon by her neighbors but willing to find a way to bring peace and stability to the Middle East.”
At the dinner given for Mrs. Meir Thursday night at the White House, Nixon toasted, “May our two countries always stand together in the cause of peace and independence and freedom for all people.” In her response, the Israeli-Premier said that when peace comes to the Middle East “we will always remember that in days of sorrow and difficulty and danger we were not alone. We had a friend.”
Among the 125 guests at the black tie dinner were many prominent Jewish business, communal and industrial leaders, Cabinet members, Congressmen and Senators and officials of the Israel Embassy. Israelis present included Ambassador and Mrs. Yitzhak Rabin; Simcha Dinitz, political secretary to the Premier; Maj. Gen. Israel Lior, defense attache at the Embassy here; and Mrs. Lou Kaddar, the Premier’s aide.
American officials included House Speaker Carl Albert; Cabinet members George Schultz, Elliot Richardson and Casper Weinberger; Senators Henry M. Jackson, Jacob K. Javits, William E. Brock, and their wives; Acting Secretary of State Kenneth Rush and former governor of Texas and Mrs. John V. Connally; and the Rev. Dr. and Mrs. Billy Graham.
Other guests included Dr. Henry A. Kissinger Herbert Stein, chairman of the President’s Council of Economic Advisors, and Mrs. Stein; Mr. and Mrs. Max M, Fisher, Mr. and Mrs. Jacques Torczyner; Mr. and Mrs. Jacob Stein; Dr. and Mrs. William A. Wexler; Mr. and Mrs. Paul Zuckerman; and Mrs. Clara M. Stern, Mrs. Meir’s sister.
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