“There is no excuse for democratic America to penalize the democratic State of Israel, or to serve as an object of blackmail by reactionary Arab leaders who have contempt for the people they govern and hatred for the modern ideas and progressive society of Israel,” a C.I.O. delegation which visited Israel reported here today.
The American labor delegation pointed out in its report that the “appeasement of Arab rulers in their hate of progressive Israel should not be permitted, for to do so would be to defeat both our long-range national interests and the democratic ideals which this country honors.” The people of Israel are working for “economic and social improvement in an atmosphere of peace and goodwill,” the delegation said.
The report recommended that the C.I.O. urge the U.S. Government to extend “full moral and financial support” to Israel; continue and expand Point Four programs for all the Middle East, and take initiative in bringing Arab governments together with Israel in working out a peaceful future. Americans, said the trade unionists, would be “unrealistic” if they lost sight of the fact that “Israel is the one advanced outpost of 20th century democracy in the Middle East, particularly in view of the threat to world peace by the Soviet Union and its satellites.”
The labor union delegation, which visited Israel in July, was composed of Secretary-Treasurer James B. Carey, President Michael Quill of the Transport Workers Union and Arthur J. Goldberg, general counsel of the C.I.O. and of the United Steel-workers of America. The delegation, the second sent by the C.I.O. to Israel in the past four years, was the guest of Histadrut, the Israel Federation of Labor, and the C.I.O. leaders were afforded an opportunity to visit all sections of the country and talk with citizens in every walk of life.
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