Rep. Ford, House Gop Leader, Lambasts Johnson on Israel; Stresses Arms for Israel

Rep. Gerald R. Ford, Republican leader in the House of Representatives, criticized President Johnson this weekend for his statement on Israeli security, which, Mr. Ford said, obscured “the credibility of American commitment to Israel.” In an interview broadcast locally by Radio Station WABC, the key station of the American Broadcasting Company, Congressman Ford emphasized the need for firmer support of Israel, including the sale of new arms for Israel.

The Michigan Republican, speaking in his official capacity as minority leader, criticized the Administration for what he termed a “vague and weak response to Israel’s life-or-death needs.” Rep. Ford was interviewed by Milton Friedman, Washington correspondent of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, for “The Week in Jewry,” a JTA news program under auspices of the New York Board of Rabbis, broadcast Sunday night.

Rep. Ford said: “President Johnson’s comments over the networks Tuesday evening, in my judgment, were not very sharp or precise in most of the topics touched upon, but particularly confusing concerning Israel. Until the President clarifies his position, the credibility of America’s commitment to Israel seems to have been clouded even more than it was by Administration. inaction last summer.”

The Republican spokesman said that “nothing endangers peace more than miscalculation on the part of potential enemies as to America’s real policy. I certainly consider that Israel’s fate involves the national security interests of the United States and the rest of the free world.”

He said he was “discouraged by the grudging and very slow movement of the Administration to ship vitally required arms, especially jet planes, to Israel, to balance the massive resupply by the Communists of some Arab nations. This vague and weak response to Israel’s life-or-death needs can only encourage Arab truculence and further Communist penetration. More than the fate of Israel is at stake. The national security interests of the United States are very directly involved.”

FEARS ADMINISTRATION’S STAND MAY ENCOURAGE USSR, ARAB STATES

Rep. Ford said that “the President’s comments could be interpreted by the Soviet Union and some of the Arab nations to indicate that the Administration won’t stand up as strongly as they should, and as a result might lend encouragement to further intrusion into the Middle East by the Soviet Union, and it might result in the Arab nations, or at least some of them, becoming active again as they were this past summer.”

Speaking for the Republicans, Rep. Ford said that “our leadership and our members as are whole are disturbed by what appears to be equivocation on the part of the Administration; and we will do what we can as the minority party in the House and in the Senate to force the Administration to stand up and do what is right to protect our interests and to meet the challenge of Communism in the Middle East.” He emphasized “the need for new sales to Israel of the military equipment essential to protection of Israel in the current crisis.”

Rep. Ford said the Republicans were “actively urging the Administration to pay far greater heed to such happenings as the growing Soviet naval deployment in the Mediterranean; the establishment of Russian bases in Egypt, Syria and Algeria; the unrelenting arms shipments by the USSR to the Arabs; the arrival in Egypt of Soviet-manned, giant jet bombers of the TU-16 type; the penetration of Russians into Yemen and the new South Yemen; the arrogant refusal of President Nasser of Egypt and other Arab leaders to engage in face-to-face peace negotiations with Israel; the cynical attack on Israel by President de Gaulle of France; and the cruel campaign of anti-Semitism and anti-Israel propaganda unleashed in the Communist nations of Eastern Europe.” He said that “much more could and should be done by the Administration to meet these and other global problems.”