The U.S. Army Engineer Corps acknowledged today that American contractors it selects for its many projects in Saudi Arabia are subject to rejection by the Saudi government while the State Department declared that “quiet diplomacy” is the best means to deal with the Arab boycott of companies identified in any way with Israel.
These statements emerged at the hearing conducted by the Senate Foreign Relations Subcommittee on Multinational Corporations concerning the boycott and Saudi Arabia’s visas to American Jews. Sen. Frank Church (D.Ida.), panel chairman, issued at the start of the hearing a list of 1500 names on the Arab boycott list and urged that it be given the widest publicity.
Church said the list should be given full publicity so that everyone in this country would know of Saudi Arabia imposing a pattern of anti-Semitism “on our country.” U.S. agencies “with our money” are acquiescing in discriminatory practices, he said, adding “we had better get this out into the open.”
The list includes such firms as the Ford Motor Co., RCA, Coca-Cola and Xerox which Church said are absolutely prohibited from sales in Arab countries. He said “Ford, for example, has been prohibited from selling a car or truck since 1966 in any Arab country.” Church also pointed out that “this very day.” a private investment company is signing an agreement with Saudi Arabia in which the United States government is providing insurance against loss.
Church said the subcommittee would draft legislation to provide equal treatment for “all our citizens” by government agencies. He said, after the hearing, that the subcommittee was not prepared to say what the next step in the subcommittee’s procedures on either legislation or hearings would be.
(President Ford expressed concern, at a press conference in Hollywood, Fla. today, over earlier reports that Arab oil producing nations were boycotting international banks in which Jews had interests. He said “such discrimination is totally contrary to the American tradition and repugnant to American principles.” He said any allegations of such discrimination would be fully investigated and appropriate action taken under the law.)
ARMY CORPS DENIES SEEING BLACKLIST
Col. William Durham, director of military construction for the Army Corps of Engineers, testified at the subcommittee hearing that the Corps had no blacklist and that he had “never seen one.” Durham also said that the Corps submits to the Saudi government a list of up to 10 companies to handle a project and it also lists the three most qualified in the army’s opinion. He said Saudi Arabia had never turned down any of its recommendations. He said projects involving the engineers have included television, radio and ordnance over the past 20 years.
Durham said “Yes sir” when asked by Church whether any Jew in the Army Corps had to present a statement that he was not of the Jewish faith in order to get a visa to go to Saudi Arabia. “In effect, then,” Church said, “when we accept this limitation, it is a de facto exclusion of individuals and concerns.”
Under questioning by Sen. Clifford Case (R. NJ), Durham said that the matter was “beyond the purview of the Corps.” Case then said, “If the requirement of a project is to go to Saudi Arabia, a Jew cannot go.” Durham replied, “That is correct.” He added that all agreements undertaken by the Corps were approved by the State Department.
Manning Seltzer, general counsel of the Corps, said that the engineers have contracts in other countries, including Morocco, Iceland, Japan, Korea and Greenland, and these countries do not require a list of contractors for approval on rejection as Saudi Arabia does. Durham said the only other project involving the Corps in the Arab countries is a naval laboratory station in Egypt.
Col. Joseph Bennett, Durham’s deputy, said that he was “wrong and I apologize” for having told the assistant counsel for the subcommittee, Jeffrey B. Shields, that the Saudi Arabians had voted “one or two companies” which the Corps had submitted to Saudi Arabia. He said that the Saudis had questioned names on the list and “that generated speculation.”
STATE DEP’T. KEEPS NO RECORDS
Deputy Assistant Secretary of State Harold H. Saunders, who specializes on Israel and the Near East Arab countries, said that Jews do not go into Saudi Arabia but that the State Department does not keep records. His knowledge, he said, was from personal observation.
When Church pointed out a conflict between the engineers’ and Saudians’ statements, and insisted that “we need evidence.” Saunders replied: “The answer is modest progress has been made.” With Church demanding evidence, Saunders said it would not be “in the public interest to do it.” He mentioned that Jewish persons traveling with Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger go to Saudi Arabia.
Saunders said that the State Department opposes the boycott and has taken the issue up with the Arabs. He suggested that the best means to deal with the problem was quiet diplomacy rather than confrontation.
JEWISH LEADERS HALL FORD’S STATEMENT
Seymour Graubard, national chairman of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, and Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, president of the American Jewish Congress, praised Ford for the statement he made today at a press conference in Florida. Graubard said the ADL is forwarding documentation for the charges of Arab boycott activity it made public yesterday to the Justice, Commerce and other government departments responsible for implementing what the ADL described as “the President’s vigorous statement.”
Rabbi Hertzberg termed Ford’s statement “a forthright warning that Arab economic friendship may not be purchased at the price of American principles or American law.” At the same time he called on Attorney General Edward S. Levi not to wait for individual complaints but to use the power granted him under Sec. 707A of Title VII of the 1964 Civil Rights Act to bring legal action against job discrimination when he has “reasonable cause” to believe such discrimination exists.
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