Israeli Prime Minister Yitzhak Shamir ended a 10-day visit to the United States convinced that the American Jewish community completely supports his policies.
“I am sure 100 percent that the rank and file of the Jewish population, the Jewish community in the United States, supports my views, my opinions,” Shamir said in an appearance on CBS-TV’s “Face the Nation” on Sunday morning.
In the interview, which was taped before Shamir left for Israel on Saturday night, the prime minister said he did not believe a poll by the Los Angeles-based Wilstein Institute of Jewish Policy Studies that the majority of board members of the Council of Jewish Federations and local federation presidents did not support his policies.
The poll found that the leaders overwhelmingly favored a territorial compromise for “credible guarantees for peace” and would support a settlement freeze if it were the only way Israel could get U.S. guarantees for $10 billion in loans to help absorb tens of thousands of Soviet Jews over the next five years.
“Who are these leaders?” Shamir asked. He said he met with thousands of people, not only when he addressed the CJF General Assembly in Baltimore on Thursday, but also in Los Angeles and Boston.
“Everywhere I got an enthusiastic reception and whatever I said about this question was received with great enthusiasm,” he said.
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