Senator Irving M. Ives today joined Rep. Jacob K. Javits in supporting and co-sponsoring a wire by Rep. Javits to Secretary of State John Foster Dulles asking that he meet with a representative group of citizens seeking a “factual policy basis” for the drastic action taken by the State Department in withholding financial aid from Israel. The Senator asked to be advised immediately whether Sec. Dulles would agree to see such a delegation.
Sen. Ives and Rep. Javits are both Republicans and both from New York. Rep. Javits informed Sec. Dulles that millions of American citizens, “profoundly interested in the future of Israel-American relations, are concerned by “the action of the Department of State in cutting off participation of Israel from special economic funds for the Near East and making findings adverse to Israel in the Kibya incident before an inquiry by the United Nations Security Council.
Senator Herbert H. Lehman, in a statement issued last night, said he regards as “most unfortunate” the action taken by the U.S. Government in suspending economic aid for Israel. “This is a ‘pressure’ approach, which seems to be most inappropriate, ” he said.
“I do not condone the recent tragic raid conducted by armed Israel villagers against inhabitants of the neighboring Jordanian village of Kibya,” Sen. Lehman stated. “Violence against innocent people, reprisals and counter-reprisals, are wrong in themselves and lead only to disaster. But the Kibya incident must be weighed against the background of hundreds of Israeli casualties from Arab bandit gangs based in Jordan during the past three years, ” he pointed out.
Philip M, Klutznik, national president of B’nai B’rith, made public the text of a letter he sent to Sec. Dulles declaring that it seemed to his organization that “the “cause of peace has been severely retarded by the abrupt actions of our State Department this week. The unusual sharpness of the charges it has levelled against Israel in the public press at a time when the United Nations Security Council is considering the dispute indicates that it had prejudged the case against Israel.” Mr. Klutznik pointed out that the State Department, despite Arab atrocities against Israel, took no comparable punitive measures against the Arab states.
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