Chairman J. W. Fulbright of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, today took the Senate floor to criticize Israel–alleging that Israel practices undemocratic censorship–and to reveal the contents of private correspondence with Israel Ambassador Avraham Harman.
Senator Fulbright, Arkansas Democrat, told the Senate that “Last spring after I had visited in the Middle East I was taken severely to task by the Israeli Prime Minister because I referred to censorship in Israel.” As a result, he said, he exchanged correspondence with the Israel Government to make known his displeasure at such criticism.
Senator Fulbright revealed anger, in the correspondence made public today, at Israeli allegations that he misrepresented facts and made statements “apt to be misleading.” Defending his charges, Sen. Fulbright’s correspondence insisted that Israel censored the press, “invaded the Sinai Peninsula,” violated United Nations Armistice agreements, and sought to minimize the actual number of Arab refugees as enumerated by the United Nations.
Senator Fulbright informed the Senate of criticism of himself by Mr. Ben-Gurion and quoted Mr. Ben-Gurion’s statement that “There was no basis for such talk by a responsible person who heads the Foreign Relations Committee of such an august institution as the U.S. Senate.”
Continuing his attack on Israel, Sen. Fulbright brought the controversy up to date by inserting into the Congressional Record a number of news dispatches from Israel and Cyprus, published in The New York Times and Washington Post within the last month, containing references to the use of censorship by Israel in the Lavon case.
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