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Z. O. A. Appeals to Eisenhower to Deal with Arab-israel Problem

March 5, 1956
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An appeal to President Eisenhower to take a hand in the present crisis in the Middle East, and to appoint a special committee to investigate the State Department’s policy on the Arab-Israel issue, was made here today in a resolution adopted at a meeting of the National Zionist Administrative Council. ruling body of the Zionist Organization of American between conventions. Several hundred Zionist leaders from all parts of the country attended the meeting which was held at the Hotel Statler.

“The scandal of the recent shipment of tanks to the slave-hunting kingdom of Saudi Arabia is only one more symptom of the vacillation, wavering and zig-zagging which calls for a thorough examination of the workings of the Department of State and for a serious re-appraisal of the United States policy in the Middle East, ” the resolution said. “Recent events in Jordan deal another blow to the appeasement policies pursued by the United States and the United Kingdom in the Near East. The foreign policy followed in the Near East seems to prefer calamity to the bolstering of our true allies.

“The time has come to stop this policy which has brought us and our allies to the very brink of disaster. We, therefore, urge the President of the United States to assist a special committee to investigate the Department of State and to report to him. The investigation should probe any links which might exist between the officials of the Department of State and private commercial concerns interested in that area and their influence in official policy.

“The continued arming of Egypt and of other countries by the Communists and their parallel arming by the United Kingdom and the United States is being accompanied by the obstinate refusal to sell the necessary defensive military equipment to surrounded and threatened Israel. The events of these last hours have exposed the immorality, folly and short-sightedness of a foreign policy which is contributing immeasurably to the growth and strength of the world Communist conspiracy. The Arab leaders have demonstrated conclusively their friendship for the Kremlin and their inherent aversion and hostility towards the West.

“Only a firm policy based upon justice and our true national interest could lead the peoples of the Middle East away from the dangerous paths of Communist intrigue. We reject emphatically the dangerous error that the appeasement of the Arab states at the expense of Israel would ever turn them into allies of the democracies or strengthen the position of the Free World. We put the case of the American-Israel relations before the people of the United States, trusting the sense of fairness of this great nation, “the resolution declared.

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