The House Foreign Affairs Committee was told by Secretary of Defense Robert A. Lovett that the Israel Army “proved its competency in the past” and that the area in which Israel is a military potential is strategically necessary for our defense.
Testifying before the Committee was also Maj. Gen. William H. Arnold, chief of the American military mission in Turkey. He was asked by chairman James P. Richards if he had occasion to see the Israel Army Gen. Arnold replied that he saw the Israel Army “only on the border,” but added; “They are well equipped. They do not have too many. They are actually mobilized, or were at one time, but I think practically everyone in Israel has a gun and they have a militia.”
The general pointed out that “you find the same in Syria and Transjordan.” He added that he did not think he saw an Arab who did not have a rifle and noted that “a very intense feeling” exists between Arabs and Jews.
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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.
