A group of Israelis who visited the Soviet Union for 10 days said upon their return here yesterday that Soviet senior officials warned them that Israel would “have to reckon” with the USSR if it goes to war against Syria or attacks Soviet missiles.
A spokesman for the six-member delegation said that Peri Makov a senior official involved in formulating Soviet policy on the Middle East, “gave us a clear message: If Israel should attack Syria or move against the new Soviet missiles stationed in Syria, it will have to reckon with the Soviet Union.”
The group, which was invited to the USSR by the Soviet Peace Council, consisted of Shulamit Aloni and Aharon Arel, Labor Alignment MKs; Gen. (ret.) Mattityahu Peled of the Israel-Palestine Committee; Benny Barabash of Peace Now; Uzzi Burstein of the Communist Party; and Muma Ukas of the Kfar Yasif village council.
They maintained, before their departure, that the Soviet Union has a major role to play in the Mideast. Aloni said she thought it was essential to continue a dialogue and to hold channels of communication open with a country which holds fellow Jews hostage and disregards hum an rights.
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