Zionist Conference Condemns Shipment of U.S. Arms to Arabs

The shipment of arms to Israel’s neighbors, whose continued hostility to Israel has most recently been exhibited by the execution of two Jews in Cairo, was condemned by speakers here last night at the opening session of a two-day regional conference of the American Zionist Council.

More than 400 delegates from a twelve-state area are attending the Southern Regional Conference at the Biltmore Hotel. It was called by Rabbi Irving Miller, chairman of the Council, who attacked the Egyptian Government for the death sentences and long prison terms imposed upon Egyptian Jews after a trial. “prejudiced by torture and distorted by propaganda.” At the same time, the Council chairman expressed his appreciation to the State Department for its reported intercession in behalf of the two Jews who, despite this appeal, were hanged in Cairo last week.

Mrs. Rose Halprin, vice-chairman of the Council and member of the Jewish Agency executive, who returned from Israel last week, told the conference that all Israelis were deeply grateful for the practical support of the American Government expressed in grants-in-aid and technical assistance to help their economy, and for the generosity of American Jewry expressed through UJA bonds, Hadassah and other organizations participating in the economic up building of Israel. “They look to the Zionist movement to generate that kind of understanding of Israel’s needs and aspirations which will inspire a number of young men and women personally to participate in the building of this new democracy,” she reported.

Harry Torczyner, chairman of the Commission on Israel of the Zionist Organization of America, said: “The sending of arms to the Arabs might well set off a conflagration in the Middle East, which would involve the United States. Weapons are not prizes, premiums or toys. There is no doubt that the Administration has sympathy for Israel. The mission of Ambassador Eric Johnston is a step in the direction of a constructive Middle Eastern policy. The Administration, however, cannot remain deaf to the repeated vociferous statements of the Arab overlords that co-existence with Israel is not possible.”

(The New York Times reported from London today that the United States and Britain are understood to be weighing a joint program for delivering arms to Middle Eastern countries under strict controls. The dispatch said that the two powers attach the highest importance to arming the anti-Communist countries in the area without risking a flare-up either between the Arab states and Israel, or among the Arab states.)

Virgil Van Street, former legal counsel and policy adviser to the U. S. Foreign Operations Mission in Israel, described the work of the operations mission in Israel, and stated that the Israelis will need outside help from world Jewry and particularly from American Jewry, for some time, until success will have been achieved. “Israel,” he said, “must succeed, If she does not, it will redound to the disadvantage of Jews everywhere.”