Samuels and Sen. Murphy Urge Administration to Sell Planes to Israel to Retain Balance

Howard Samuels, Democratic candidate for governor, today urged President Nixon to “restore the balance of power in the Middle East by supplying to Israel whatever armaments are necessary and to urge the Soviet Union to press for face-to-face talks between Israel and her neighbors.” Mr. Samuels warned that just as Great Britain allowed Hitler to build his war machine “so the United States is letting the Arab world become the potential trigger of a major war.” Mr. Samuels said that only when the Soviet-Arab bloc becomes aware that the U.S. won’t let the balance of power shift to the Arabs “can the crisis subside.” Sen. George L. Murphy, Republican of California, told a meeting last night of the American Jewish Committee’s Publishers and Distributors Division that the U.S. “must reconsider its decision on selling more jet aircraft to Israel,” asserting that “we cannot afford to let our friends down anywhere in the world, and Israel is one of our best friends,” and is “fighting our battles in the crucial cockpit of the Middle East.”