U.S. Urged to Ban Aid to Nasser Until He Starts Talks with Israel

Republican Senator Kenneth Keating of New York urged yesterday in the Senate that Egypt should be told that it will receive no further American aid until it “sits down and negotiates its differences with Israel” and “comes together at the conference table instead of spewing forth threats and propaganda.”

Senator Keating’s remarks were made in a speech on the Senate floor. He charged that Egyptian efforts “to tie strings” to American foreign aid because of U. S. support of Israel’s bid for a link with the European Common Market is “ridiculous, undignified and wholly at variance with our objectives in the Middle East.”

The Senator said that the proper U.S. reply to Cairo’s reported refusal to accept economic support from the United States until it withdraws its endorsement of Israel’s bid for a Common Market link “is to stop aid in Egypt altogether.” He charged that rather than take this attitude, the U.S. has been “sending mission after mission of high level diplomats to Egypt to beg Nasser to take our money.”

The Republican lawmaker told the Senate that “Egyptian resentment at the possible links between Israel and the European Common Market is so great that Nasser seems to be trying to use the American aid he receives to push the United States into opposing Israel’s tie with Europe.” Labeling such action a “blatant” attempt to influence U.S. foreign policy, Keating declared:

“There are times when the United States should say ‘No.’ This is one of those times. Israel has a great deal to gain and to contribute in an agreement with the Common Market. Nasser apparently has nothing to contribute in the Middle East except hatred, ill will and turmoil. He seeks to gain nothing except the destruction of the neighboring State of Israel.”