Questions raised by Israel over the Ford Administration’s proposals for American economic and military assistance to Israel “will not create a problem between the United States and Israel,” the State Department said today. “Obviously, the whole thing will be discussed on the Hill,” Department spokesman Robert Anderson said. He was referring to Congressional scrutiny of the $4.7 billion aid program that includes $2.24 billion for Israel and $750 million for Egypt.
These questions were raised by Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz with Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, the State Department said. Anderson said “those questions are in the process of being resolved.” (Related story P.3)
Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin told his Cabinet yesterday that the Administration’s proposal was $60 million less than Israel was promised by Kissinger during the Sinai negotiations. He also said that $1.24 billion of the proposed aid was in loans although Israel had understood that two-thirds of the U.S. assistance would be grants.
U.S. MAY WITHDRAW FROM ILO
In another development, Anderson said that he expected to have “something later” this week on the report that the United States will notify the International Labor Organization in Geneva that it is withdrawing from that United Nations body. It is understood here that Labor Secretary John T. Dunlop was to have made the withdrawal announcement today. But it was postponed until after the departure Wednesday of Egyptian President Anwar Sadat.
The American action is based on the withdrawal of the AFL-CIO from the tripartite American delegation in which the government and employers also are represented. The AFL-CIO has long been at odds with the ILO leadership and the last straw was the ILO’s vote last June to give the Palestine Liberation Organization observer status in the UN group. This is the first time that the United States has withdrawn from a UN body. The U.S. provides about 25 percent of the ILO budget, or about more than $11 million a year.
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.
