U.S. Air Force Undersecretary Antonia Handler Chayes declared here that the construction by the United States of Israel Air Force bases in the Negev to replace the bases Israel gave up in the Sinai as part of the Camp David accords is a “tangible sign of the permanence of the U.S. commitment to Israel’s security.”
Chayes spoke to some 700 persons at the annual American Mizrachi Women Scholarship Fund Dinner at the Waldorf Astoria last Sunday night at which she received the AMW’s Distinguished Public Service Award for her work in relocating the air bases. “It is fitting that a national organization of American Jewish women should present this award to a distinguished American Jewish woman who has lent her talents to the cause of peace for both the U.S. and Israel, ” AMW president Roselle Silberstein said in presenting the award.
Chayes said the U.S. commitment to Israel was dramatically brought home to her last summer when the first of the U.S. made F-16 jet fighters arrived in Israel. “Their arrival, after a non-stop 12-hour flight from the United States was more than just a visually impressive event … more significantly, it was a symbol that U.S. support is only a few hours flight away.”
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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.