Senator Joseph S. Clark, Pennsylvania Democrat, who in the past has been a consistent opponent of military aid programs, tonight advocated that the United States pursue a full-scale program of military assistance to Israel, including the loan of American war ships. “Although as a member of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee I have been a persistent opponent of military aid programs, I consider Israel a separate case, Sen. Clark said at a dinner of the Zionist Organization of America here.
Vice-President Humphrey sent a telegram reiterating the United States position on the Middle East. The wire stated; Harmony, peace and justice in the Middle East – these are our steadfast goals. Freedom of international waterways, freedom from border terrorism, respect for nationhood — these and other goals, as stressed by President Johnson, are our continued objectives.”
The arguments against military aid simply do not apply, Sen. Clark said in explaining his position. “Will the arms be used in military adventures against peaceful neighboring states? Not by Israel. Are the arms actually needed to offset Communist-sponsored military pressure? Definitely yea, He also criticized Gen. de Gaulle for shifting his favor to Israel’s adversaries.”
The dinner, which was attended by 1,000 leaders of the ZOA, and prominent opera and theater figures, honored Richard Tucker, Metropolitan Opera star, for his “devotion to Israel and the Jewish people. The dinner also began the formal launching of a drive for the Richard Tucker Music Center to be located at the Kfar Silver Agricultural High School campus, near Ashkelon, The center, for which a goal of $200,000 has been set, will contain facilities for concerts, recordings and the teaching of music.
At a meeting of the ZOA’s national executive committee last night, Jacques Torczyner, president of the ZOA, sharply condemned the recent outburst against Israel and Jews by French President Charles de Gaulle, The French leaders’s remarks, he said, show that de Gaulle belongs to a group of French intellectual anti-Semites. He noted that French Jewry “condemned de Gaulle’s statement with dignity” and declared; We owe it to ourselves not to identify de Gaulle with France and the French people, and to keep our balance of Judgment in the face of such provocations.”
Discussing domestic issues, Mr, Torczyner criticized those who would force the electorate in New York State to choose between the incumbent Jewish member of the U.S. Senate, Jacob K. Javits, and Arthur J. Goldberg, the chairman of the American delegation to the United Nations, Such a forced choice between two “distinguished Jews, “he said, would be “a disservice to the Jewish community as a whole which needs both men in important positions in public life. “The very people who denied the existence of a Jewish vote,” he declared, “are using Jewish candidates to prove that there is one.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
