Meir Rosenne, Israel’s new Ambassador to the United States, declared here today that “Israel is stronger than ever, not only because we have the military power but because the people of the world are with us.”
The envoy, addressing a luncheon at the 70th anniversary convention of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, stressed that “contrary to what you read in the press, Israel is not isolated … Israel is strong today because it has given proof to the entire world that we are ready for peace, and we are ready to negotiate peace with any Arab states with no preconditions.”
Rosenne, who was Israel’s Ambassador to France before he was posted to Washington, noted that “Israel has signed an agreement with Lebanon — it is not a full peace treaty but we have said since the first day of our intervention (in Lebanon) up to this moment that Israel has no intention whatsoever to change the borders between Israel and Lebanon. We are ready to withdraw as soon as all the foreign forces in Lebanon today withdraw,” he said.
Rosenne complained that there was worldwide condemnation of Israel’s invasion of Lebanon but no condemnation of Syria’s occupation of that country. “We do not hear of any condemnation in any international forum, we do not see any sanctions adopted by the European Common Market and we do not see any debate in the UN Security Council over the fact that one state occupies illegally 50 percent of the territory of another state and nobody reacts.
“The only thing you see,” Rosenne said, “is a campaign waged against Israel preparing public opinion to pressure against our country.” Referring to dissent in Israel and among American Jews over Israel government policies, Rosenne said, “We ourselves should not be victims of this campaign of trying to show that there is division of opinion, that there is dissent. When it comes to the protection of Jewish lives and existence of the State of Israel, we are more united than ever,” he said.
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