State Dept, Says U.S. Does Not Discriminate Against Israel in Arms

The State Department today said that there had been no discrimination against Israel in the issuance of arms export licenses by the United States. At the same time, the State Department declared that the “volume of requests for such licenses for Israel has greatly exceeded those of the Arab states, as have the arms shipments from commercial sources.”

The statement was seen here as a reply to a letter to Secretary of State John Foster Dulles signed by six Senators and 29 Congressmen of both parties and made public here yesterday. That letter protested American plans for granting military assistance to Arab states which were still technically in a state of war with Israel. The Department’s statement today referred to export licenses granted for the shipment of arms bought in this country.

The Department’s statement noted that the general policy of the U.S. on arms shipments to Israel and the Arab states had been laid down in the tripartite declaration of May 25, 1950 at which time the U.S., Britain and France “recognized that the Arab countries and Israel all need to maintain a certain level of armed forces for the purpose of insuring their internal security and their legitimate self-defense and to permit them to play their part in the defense of the area as a whole.”

The State Department today also noted that the three powers had pledged to consider all arms requests in the light of these circumstances and that they had “also declared their opposition to the development of an arms race between Israel and the Arab countries.” Finally, the Department noted that the facts concerning shipments in today’s statement pertained only to the United States and not to any other exporting countries.