Senate Unit’s Amendment Urges Sale of ‘supersonic’ Jets to Israel, Omits Phantoms

The Senate Foreign Relations Committee today incorporated into the Foreign Aid Bill an amendment calling upon the President to sell supersonic planes to the State of Israel. The action, in response to State Department pressure, eliminated a House-approved amendment to the bill which called upon the President to sell 50 Phantom jet fighter-bombers to Israel.

The new wording stated that “it is the sense of the Congress that the President should take such steps as may be necessary as soon as practicable…to negotiate an agreement with the Government of Israel providing for the sale by the United States of such number of supersonic planes as may be necessary to provide Israel with an adequate deterrent force capable of preventing future Arab aggression by offsetting sophisticated weapons received by the Arab states and to replace losses suffered by Israel in the 1967 conflict.”

Although the substitute wording eliminated reference to the Phantom jet fighter-bombers, it did refer specifically to “supersonic” aircraft. The Douglas Skyhawk jets provided to Israel under a previous agreement are subsonic and obsolescent. No supersonic military jets have been sold to Israel by the U.S.

The substitution had the effect of lessening the strength of the House wording which said that the President “shall” sell the Phantoms to Israel. The new phrasing indicated to the Executive Department, however, that the Congress wanted the President to provide supersonic jets to Israel at an early date. The measure added momentum to the campaign for the sale of the 50 Phantoms sought by Israel.