A secret State Department study has concluded that any attempt to pressure Israel by withholding arms deliveries would be useless or even counterproductive. The study was made by the State Department’s intelligence and research branch at the bidding of the policy and coordinating staff.
The study suggested that withholding arms supplies from Israel or the Arabs would not dissuade them from acting as they feel necessary in using force. It pointed out that alternative sources of arms exist abroad and that Israel is able to provide much of its needs from its own arms industry. The study referred to the French arms embargo against Israel imposed during the June, 1967 Six-Day War which had no effect on Israel as a deterrent to military action and gained France only a slight improvement in its relations with the Arabs.
The existence of the State Department study was disclosed inadvertently Tuesday when Secretary of State William P. Rogers remarked on a CBS interview, without direct reference to Israel, that “We have had a study made of how many times we have been able to influence the policy of another government by withholding military aid and we find that it has not been successful in any degree.” Secretary Rogers denied that the U.S. was considering the suspension of arms shipments to Israel as a means of pressuring Israel to accept U.S. proposals that it withdraw from the occupied Arab territories.
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