Two members of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee announced today that they were opposed to exclusion of Israel from the special assistance grant program for 1960. At the same time, a representative of the American Federation of Labor-Congress of Industrial Organizations told the House Foreign Affairs Committee that there was “no justification” for cutting Israel off from aid essential to her economy.
In addition, Sen. Hugh Scott of Pennsylvania, one of four Republican Senators who, it was disclosed yesterday, had personally visited Secretary of State Christian Herter to urge reconsideration of the exclusion of Israel from the aid grant program, indicated today that he did not find complete satisfaction in the Secretary’s response to the request that Israel be put back on the list of nations to receive direct grant assistance.
The Secretary, it was reported, minimized the importance of this special assistance program, and suggested that Israel might instead be aided through development loans and surplus commodity sales. He held that budgetary restrictions prevented the continuation of Israel as a recipient of special assistance in the new fiscal year.
Sen. Scott said the Secretary was made aware of Congressional plans to initiate legislative action to restore Israel to participation in the special assistance program. The program is now pending before Congress. Secretary Herter was told that, if the Israeli grant was a budgetary problem, Congress could vote additional financing to cover the relatively small sum that would be involved for Israel. Sen. Scott said he intended to continue pursuing the issue, and would remain in touch with the State Department.
MORSE PLEDGES FIGHT FOR REINSTATEMENT OF ISRAEL
The two Senators who announced their opposition to the exclusion of Israel were Wayne Morse, Oregon, and John F. Kennedy, Massachusetts, both Democrats. Sen. Morse said he was planning a fight in the Senate because he did not believe Israel’s elimination was justified.
Sen. Morse added that Israel should receive continued grant aid “because she did not walk out on her moral obligations to refugees, but the United States did.” He said Israel relieved the refugee burden, and assumed obligations the United States should have under-taken. He called Israel a prime example of the sort of democratic nation the United States should aid economically, and said the economic strength of nations like Israel and the cause of freedom were linked. He questioned the wisdom, in terms of America’s own interest, of the State Department decision to deny special assistance to Israel.
Sen. Kennedy said he was opposed to any arbitrary exclusion of Israel from the program. He took the position that Israel needed and deserved a fair share of special assistance. The Senator said he was studying the overall foreign aid program submitted by the State Department in order to evaluate the treatment of Israel in the proposals for the fiscal year.
LABOR BACKS CONTINUED AID GRANTS TO ISRAEL, HOUSE BODY TOLD
Andrew J. Biemiller, legislative director of the AFL-CIO, told the House Foreign Affairs Committee today that organized American labor urged restoration of Israel to the list of nations to receive special assistance grants in 1960.
Mr. Biemiller told the committee that “in view of the key role the United States played in the establishment of Israel as a free democratic nation in the Middle East, there can be no justification for cutting off Israel from essential aid to her developing economy.”
He said this was “especially true in view of the important, though necessarily limited, effort Israel is itself making to provide technical assistance to even less developed countries such as Ghana.”
Mr. Biemiller said “we urge that the amount of funds authorized for special assistance be expanded and that the tentative decision to refuse further aid to Israel from special assistance funds be rescinded.”
He said his organization had learned “that no funds are being allocated to Israel under the new program drafted by the State Department.” He therefore wanted to advise Congress of the thinking of American” labor on this subject.
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