A State Department spokesman said today that the United States Government wishes to prevent the spread of nuclear weapons to the countries of the Near East. “We are against nuclear proliferation, particularly in the Near East,” State Department Press Officer Robert McCloskey said. “The United States position on this subject is well known and positive,” he declared. “If anyone should advance a plan offering a potential for avoiding the spread of nuclear weapons to the Near East, we would be interested in studying it.”
His comments were in response to a reporter’s question about American thinking of Israel Prime Minister Levi Eshkol’s remarks yesterday on nuclear weapons. Mr. Eshkol, speaking in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, declared that Israel has no atomic arms and will not be the first to introduce such weapons in the area.
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.
