President Nixon said in his oral State of the Union message to Congress today that the United States “will make only those (foreign) commitments we are able and prepared to meet.” Although he did not mention Israel specifically, the implication was that Israel was included in the statement of policy that “we will help other nations develop the capability of defending themselves.”
That statement was seen in the context of the recent announcement that the US would aid Israel’s weapons technology and yesterday’s State Department disclosure that high-level Israeli-American talks are being held on the “modernization” of Israel’s military power. Nixon’s only mention of the Middle East was in the total text of his message, which he also submitted to Congress. There, he spoke of US-USSR relations after pointing out that there had been advances but also “uncertainties such as the Middle East.” The remark was not amplified.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
