Red Star, organ of the Soviet Defense Ministry, denounced Israel yesterday as an aggressor nation and charged that “American Zionist circles” feed induced the United States to agree to sell Hawk ground-to-air missiles to Israel.
“The Hawk deal did not take place without a hand from the Zionists, ” the publication asserted. “Through its ties with the Zionist organizations of the United States, Israel has the ability to exert direct influence through highly placed figures in the American Government.”
The newspaper asserted also that the Hawk decision was “pregnant with new great dangers” of a Middle East missile race. It made no reference, however, to the fact that the United States decision followed delivery of a flood of Soviet-made arms, including latest type bombers, to Egypt, Syria and Iraq.
Red Star added that “the ruling circles of Israel are playing an unenviable role as servants of imperialism. ” It said that from the start of its existence, Israel “came into conflict with the Arab countries, captured part of their territory, chasing out more than one million Arabs and depriving them of their property and assets.”
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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.