A three-point program of United States guarantees of Israel’s security and Middle East peace was advocated here last night in an address by Sen. Robert F. Kennedy. He voiced the program at the 58th annual dinner of Bnai Zion, an American fraternal Zionist organization, after receiving the Bnai Zion Bill of Rights Gold Medal in recognition of “his inspiring leadership in the furtherance of the letter and spirit of the Bill of Rights. ” At the same event, the Bnai Zion America-Israel Friendship Gold Medal was awarded to Maurice Levin.
Asserting that there must be no further armed confrontation between Israel and the Arab states, Sen. Kennedy said: “All of us who are concerned with the fate of Israel must now redouble our efforts, for we are now in a critical time, one as full of danger and promise as any that Israel has yet seen.” Then he spelled out the program for United States Government action in the region as follows:
“1) We should affirm our commitment to peace and stability in the Near East. Any leader who does not understand that no Near Eastern war can be a local war should have that misapprehension corrected in the most forceful terms.
“2) We should continue to assure a reasonable balance between Israel’s arms and the arms of those who threaten her security. In courage, in determination, in alertness, Israel is equal to any challenge, as she has been in the past. Her arms must also be equal to any challenge.
“3) We should intensify disarmament efforts in the Middle East. It would be far better for Israel and for every nation in that part of the world if money now spent on arms were spent instead on bringing a better life to the children of all the region. Equality of arms is preferable to imbalance; but absence of armaments under appropriate safeguards is better still. The Soviet Union must be brought to recognize that arms competition in this region is harmful to all.”
“We must, in short, ” Sen. Kennedy stated, “ensure that what President Kennedy called ‘the shining light of the Middle East’ — the light of Israel’s freedom, traditions and people, will continue to glow, increasing its importance as its contributions to the world increase.”
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