Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, Gen. Yitzhak Rabin, was on his way back to Washington today after a week-end of consultations with Government leaders on U.S. – Israel relations. The status of Israel’s request for more Phantom and Sky hawk jets from the U.S. was believed to have been the reason for Ambassador Rabin’s sudden recall to Jerusalem last Thursday. (The Israeli Embassy in Washington had no comment today on a report that President Richard M. Nixon has refused additional Phantoms to Israel at this time. The report appeared in the newspaper Haaretz on Sunday and was not confirmed by any official sources. The Israeli Mission to the United Nations in New York told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today that it had no information on the Haaretz report but was “checking it out.”)
Ambassador Rabin told reporters at Lydda Airport today that he had come to Jerusalem “to consult with the Government upon the invitation of the Foreign Minister.” He said, “I take no letter for Nixon.” The latter reference was in connection with reports that Premier Golda Meir was sending a special message to President Nixon renewing her appeal for more Phantom jets. The Israeli envoy said, “I know that nothing is achieved easily. We have to trust that things will turn out good. One can say that I go back (to Washington) with a better feeling and that is already much more than I intended to say.” According to the Haaretz report, the White House decision not to sell more jets to Israel at this time stemmed from military considerations, namely that Israel’s air superiority over the Arabs was ensured for the time being and new planes were not required.
(The syndicated Washington columnists Rowland Evans and Robert Novak wrote in their column today: “That decision does not mean Mr. Nixon will refuse to augment Israel’s inventory with a few more F-4 Phantoms and A-4 Sky hawks, to be sold on generous financial terms,” but the number of planes will be considerably below the quantity requested by Israel. According to the columnists, the White House decision was made several days ago. The delay in announcing it stemmed from the difficulty of “how to draft the denial in terms least offensive to Prime Minister Golda Meir.”)
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