Young Says Third World Aiming at U.S. in Attacking Israel

Andrew Young, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, said here last night that he did not believe “there was ever any real hostility in most of the Third World toward the State of Israel” but rather that those countries were venting their frustrations against the United States when they supported anti-Israel measures at the UN. He said he doubted “that we will have very much of that from African nations or from the Caribbean” during the current session of the General Assembly, although he predicted that the session “may be very, very rough” and “largely focused on the Middle East.”

Young made his remarks to 1000 guests at a dinner given by the Synagogue Council of America which awarded its Covenant of Peace Prize to Mrs. Lillian Carter, mother of President Carter. The presentation was made by Philip M. Klutznick, a former U.S. Ambassador to the UN, who noted that “Miss Lillian’s” life exemplifies the values and sensibilities that give meaning to the terms justice, compassion and peace.

Young, who delivered the major address of the evening, said, “I don’t think there was ever any real hostility in most of the Third World toward the State of Israel. What there was hostility toward the United States because we were insensitive to the problems that they felt most crucial. And because of our insensitivity and because of our strength and the fact that we seemed almost invulnerable they began to pick on the ally that they thought was most vulnerable.

“And so much of the hostility of the racism and Zionism period was not a frustration and hostility toward Israel at all, but a frustration and hostility toward a powerful nation, such as the United States, that seemed insensitive to complications like the Panama Canal or the price of sugar in the Caribbean or the means of pursuing justice and freedom in southern Africa.”

Young added, “But now that we are concerning ourselves with those problems, we’re finding that all over the world people are being more rational and logical, not only about their own problems but also about the problems of the Middle East as well.”

SEES GOOD ATMOSPHERE

The American envoy said that he talked with Secretary of State Cyrus Vance after the latter’s meeting with Israeli Foreign Minister Moshe Dayan and “there did seem to be a kind of rapport, the atmosphere that we talk about, that was very, very good. And people went away from that meeting thinking that we could work together to solve the very complicated and complex problems that are involved in a settlement in the Middle East.”

Young said he had received “the same news about the meeting with Foreign Minister Ismail Fahmy of Egypt–that there again, things seemed to be very good and that there is a sense of moderation that has seldom existed in the Arab world.”

Young noted that “there can be no peace without strength; there can be no peace without the basis of security, and that’s the reason the United States, in every administration of our lifetime, has pledged itself not only to the peace of Israel but to the security of Israel.”

Rabbi Saul I. Teplitz, president of the Synagogue Council, the umbrella organization of Reform, Conservative and Orthodox Judaism in America, said that the organization “has applauded the Administration’s resolve to finally move the Arab-Israel dispute to a peaceful resolution.” He said “The Administration can count on our continued support of initiatives intended to further flexibility and openness. But we must warn that these initiatives lose their moral justification when they ignore Israel’s unique vulnerability, a vulnerability not shared by any of its neighbors.”