Vice-President designate Nelson A. Rockefeller was not subjected to any further questioning of his-views on the Middle East during his return appearance today at the House Judiciary Committee confirmation hearings. Rep. Joshua Eilberg (D.Pa.) had been expected to ask the former Governor of New York to clarify a remark he had made when Eilberg questioned him on Nov. 21 that “these people (the Palestinians) were on their land and they (the Israelis) took the land.” But the Congressman did not follow up his earlier line of questioning.
An aide to Eilberg told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency after today’s hearing that if Rockefeller wanted to explain his statement it was up to him to ask for time and to put his answer in the record. “We’ll have to Judge his position on the Middle East by his statement in the record and his past statements and actions,” the aide said.
Rockefeller’s remark to Eilberg, first reported by the JTA Nov. 29 on the basis of the transcript of the Nov. 21 Judiciary Committee hearings, aroused wide concern and criticism in Jewish circles. Jewish leaders asked for clarification and a retraction. Rockefeller subsequently issued a statement endorsing the Ford Administration’s Middle East policy upholding Israel’s right to exist. But he said nothing to soften the implication of his off-hand remark to Eilberg that the Israelis took the Palestinians’ land.
Eilberg reportedly was not satisfied with Rockefeller’s statement and was believed to have wanted the Vice-Presidential nominee to be more explicit on the Middle East. There was no Indication why Eilberg failed to pursue that line of questioning at today’s hearing.
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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.
