Shimon Peres, former Israel deputy defense minister and now a Knesset member, told the Zionist Organization of America today that Israel was making “a beginning” in its aero-space and military electronics industries. Addressing a special two-day national executive conference of the ZOA called to deal with the Mideast crisis, Mr. Peres said that Israel was at the point “where it is able to adopt the Swedish policy of producing its own tanks, planes, and missiles.” Although Sweden is three times larger than Israel, the defense budgets of the two countries are alike, he said.
Mr. Peres said Israel considers its current relations with the U.S. excellent and added, “we don’t consider ourselves today under heavy American pressure. The first steps and proclamations of the Nixon Administration are–from an Israeli point of view–quite encouraging.” He said that Mr. Nixon’s statement last week, that the day is past when big powers can impose their will on small ones, was highly regarded in Israel.
ZOA president Jacques Torczyner said that he appreciated President Nixon’s recently expressed opposition to an imposed Mideast peace settlement. He said he believed that the President “understands the importance of a strong Israel.”
The ZOA leader said that “we have to remind world opinion that a defeated nation cannot impose conditions on the victor.” He warned that all over the Western Hemisphere, “Arabs are busy at work trying to convince government and public opinion that Israel is an aggressor and is mistreating the Arab population in occupied territories.” He disclosed that a pan-American Zionist conference would be held May 29 at Miami Beach to discuss this problem among others. Mr. Torczyner charged that Arab propaganda was taking effect in the United States and that “the mass media have fallen victim to the glorification of the El Fatah.” He said that El Fatah has been likened to the wartime French resistance. “Many Jewish college students have fallen victim to Arab propaganda simply because they do not know the facts.” he said.
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