Israel needs stronger guarantees for its security against Arab attack than that voiced by White House Aide Myer Feldman, David Hacohen, a leader of the Mapai party, declared today in the debate in Parliament which followed yesterday’s address by Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion on the government’s foreign policy.
Mr. Hacohen’s reference was to a statement by the White House official in Washington Sunday that the United States was committed to the integrity of Israel and did not intend “to sit on the sidelines if there is any threat” to Israel. He also said that the United States was opposed to any arms race in the Middle East.
The Mapai deputy said that the United States has opposed such an arms inflow into the area for many years but has not done anything to stop it. He recalled the statement of President Eisenhower that the United States would not tolerate an anti-Israel boycott in use of the Suez Canal, and added that the United States must frame its guarantees “in a more formal and binding manner.”
KNESSET DEPUTIES WANT CLARITY ON WESTERN GUARANTEES TO ISRAEL
Elimelich Rimalt, a Liberal MP, pointed out that the Prime Minister had been silent about the issue of Western guarantees of Israel’s security and said that silence was a “riddle,” “Has the Government demanded of the world powers real guarantees of Israel’s peace, integrity and security or has it not?” he asked. He asserted that if the Government had not asked such guarantees, “then it has made a serious error.”
Yaacov Hazan of the leftist Mapam party said Israel should seek such guarantees whether by four, three or one nation or by the United Nations “but not a defense pact with the United States.” He said such a pact–urged by Prime Minister Ben-Gurion in an interview taped for a nationwide television program in the United States tomorrow–would “automatically put Israel squarely in one of the world’s blocs.”
Rabbi I.M. Levin of Agudat Israel said that if Nasserite supporters gained control in Jordan, Israel would be justified in launching a preventive attack.
Haim Landau, of the Herut Party, demanded an outright Israel Government declaration to the effect that, under no circumstances, will Israel acquiesce to any pro-Nasser change in Jordan. “There is no alternative to the situation posed by the new Arab Federation,” he said, “but to assert the right of defense and the duty to act before the pro-Nasser elements create a fait accompli. Even if Nasser did not now venture to embark on an attack, his domination of Jordan–about a half-mile from this building of Parliament–would constitute the gravest threat.”
The Herut representative belittled the proposal made by Mr. Ben-Gurion in an interview with CBS TV for a joint Russo-American commitment to the preservation of Israel’s territorial integrity, or the alternate request for a mutual defense pact between Israel and the United States. Instead, he urged that Israel request “substantial” arms from the United States with which to defend itself.
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