The relations between Israel and the United States were outlined here in an address delivered at Harvard University by Dr. Moshe Keren, Counsellor of the Israel Embassy in Washington. He laid special emphasis on the future.
Stressing that these relations cover an extremely wide field and are in no way confined to political contents in the strict sense of the word, the Israel diplomat said that close bonds exist between the U.S. and the Jewish state in the cultural, social and economic fields. “These bonds are interrelated and interwoven,” he said. He then enumerated the following general features as characterizing the relations between America and Israel:
1. Like many other nations, Israel looks to America in many ways for a solution or amelioration of its serious economic difficulties. Dr. Keren, thereby, pointed out that he is “happy to state that Israel has enjoyed in the past general support from both the American public and the government.”
2. Israel is a modern secular democracy, and the fact that she is a liberal democratic state gives here a natural affinity to the spirit of American democracy and defines her attitude in principle toward the great ideological conflict which today rips the world into two rivalling parts.
3. Israel, in addition to being a liberal democracy, is a Jewish state, and the Jewish people there feel that they are responsible for the life of every Jew who might be saved from persecution in the shelter of Israel’s shores. The fact that Israel is predominantly Jewish, creates a unique bond between her people and the great American Jewish community, which represents the wealthiest branch of the Jewish people.
4. Israel is situated in one of the strategic regions of the globe, a region in whose peace and stability the U.S. has a vital interest. The unsatisfactory state of affairs created by the refusal of the Arab states to enter into direct negotiations with Israel for a final peace settlement is the cause of many of the political prolems which furnish the content of negotiation and exchange of views between the Governments of the United States and Israel.
Dr. Keren paid high tribute to the Jews of America for the aid they are giving to Israel. At the same time, he emphasized that Israel is ambitious “to learn the secrets of American know-how,” and to establish close contacts with the U.S. in the agricultural and economic fields.
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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.
