William S. Gaud, Assistant Administrator of the U.S. Agency for International Development, in the Near East bureau, indicated today in a CBS-TV interview that the State Department opposes an amendment, introduced in Congress by Rep. Seymour Halpern, New York Republican, to sever aid to Egypt.
The Halpern amendment would terminate aid because of Egypt’s diversion of its own funds for a military build-up, including acquisition of Soviet arms and use of German missile technicians.
Mr. Gaud defended aid to Egypt, stating that Israel has received an average of $410 percent capita in American aid while Egypt has only received an average of $26 per capita. He said also that Israel had gotten $900,000,000 from the United States since the beginning of the aid program, and Egypt had only received $600, 000, 000.
He said assistance to Egypt kept her from being totally dependent on the Soviet bloc, enabled America to maintain friendly relations with Egypt, and encouraged Nasser’s concentration of the last few years on peaceful development. He said that cutting off aid to Egypt would throw the country into the hands of the Communists.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
