A State Department source said today that the United States government has not reached a decision on the granting of credits in any specific amount to Israel although it has a program of grants under consideration. The State Department was questioned by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today in connection with reports from Jerusalem that the U.S. has granted Israel easy long term credit in the amount of $450 million for the current fiscal year. Stories dealing with the loan were carried today by Israeli newspapers Haaretz and Davar and yesterday by the JTA. The State Department source said the $450 million figure was understood to be in the general range of the assistance being considered. He said, “We have never quarreled with that figure.” But he declined to comment on a report from Jerusalem that the sum is part of a $1 billion credit applied for by Israel for the next two fiscal years. The source said that Israel’s request for financial credits was made at the time of Premier Golda Meir’s visit to Washington last month. According to the report from Jerusalem, the $450 million is car-marked mainly for Israeli defense purchases in the United States.
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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.
