Zanbar Warns That Denial by U.S. of $550 Million Will Cause Jobless Figure in Israel to Soar to 80,0

Moshe Zanbar, Governor of the Bank of Israel, warned yesterday that if Israel does not receive the extra $550 million in U.S. aid to cover the transitional quarter between fiscal 1976 and fiscal 1977, unemployment in this country would soar to 80,000. The additional foreign aid funding for the three-month period June 30-Oct. 1 is before the U.S. Congress but is opposed by the Ford Administration. (See related story on this page.)

Zanbar presented this issue as an example of why it was undesirable for the Israeli economy to be totally dependent on the U.S. He said that under the present circumstances, that dependence was so complete that “politicians in Washington can decide if we will have unemployment and what its rate will be.”

Sources in the Prime Minister’s Office were quoted, meanwhile, as saying that Premier Yitzhak Rabin raised the matter of transitional quarter funding for Israel at his meeting with President Ford in Washington last January, but that the President “showed no special interest in the request” and handed the matter over to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger. The sources said Kissinger made it clear to Israel that the Administration would not ask Congress for the additional funding but “would not object” if Congress took the initiative.

Observers here assume that Ford “probably changed his mind” in view of the election campaign but asked an official of the National Security Council to assure Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz that the change was not aimed at Israel. Some 50 nations, including Egypt, Syria and Jordan would also benefit from transitional quarter funding.

POLL ON U.S.-ISRAEL RELATIONS

Meanwhile, a public opinion poll published today showed that 61 percent of the Israeli public is “convinced” or “thinks” that relations with the U.S. have deteriorated. According to the poll, 39 percent believes there has been no change in relations.

The poll asked Israelis whether they considered most important U.S. Ambassador William Scranton’s veto of an anti-Israel resolution at last month’s Security Council session or his speech at the same session criticizing Israeli settlements in the administered territories. Of the respondents, 43 percent believed Scranton’s speech had the greater impact and 36 percent thought the veto was more important. Only six percent believed that neither the speech nor the veto were of any consequence with respect to U.S.-Israeli relations.