Authoritative Administrative sources arriving here for the Democratic National Convention reported today that Soviet Russia was moving additional naval and air units to the Eastern Mediterranean, presumably to be based in Egypt. The sources indicated that Washington believed the move could have ramifications in the Middle East crisis although it was ostensibly directed against Yugoslavia which supported the liberal regime of deposed Czech Communist Party chief Alexander Dubcek and has denounced the Soviet occupation of Czechoslovakia.
Leading Democratic senators briefed by President Johnson and others in recent days acknowledged here that Washington was deeply concerned with these developments. But, they indicated, the Administration’s initial response appears to be to avoid a confrontation by ruling out closer U.S. identification with Israel which Secretary of State Dean Rusk believes would cause an automatic alignment of all Arab states behind Russia and shatter U.S. diplomacy throughout the Moslem world. One prominent senator said that the chance of White House action on the sale of F-4 Phantom jets to Israel was injured rather than improved by the new mood of United States caution arising from the Czech crisis.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
