Some 315 candidates for the United States Congress, representing 36 states and including 25 nominees for the Senate, have declared their opposition to the sending of arms to the Arab states under present conditions, it was announced here this week-end by the American Zionist Committee for Public Affairs.
Of the 315 candidates who made their views public, a total of 239 joined in signing a declaration opposing the grant of arms unless the Arab states declare their readiness to join in the defense of the free world and agree to negotiate a peace settlement with Israel. Seventy-six others issued their own statements expressing general agreement with the joint declaration or otherwise expressing reservations about the current arms policy in the Middle East. The list includes 151 members of the present Congress.
Louis Lipsky, chairman of the Zionist Committee, said “the response is a gratifying demonstration of the fact that this issue commands the concern and active interest of both major parties, as it always has in the past, and that it transcends partisan politics. “Mr. Lipsky said that “in view of this expression of wide public concern, it is our hope that the problems arising out of the proposals to arm the Arab states will soon be equitably and fairly resolved in the best interests of our country, of the peoples directly concerned, and of world peace.”
The committee said the list of signatories as released was incomplete, since replies from a number of Congressional districts had not yet been received. An additional tabulation will be released later. Of the 315 candidates, the division by party affiliation is: 162 Democrats, 110 Republicans, 26 Democrat-Liberals, 9 Democrat-Farmer Labor, 3 Liberals, 2 Republican-Democrats, 2 independents, and 1 American Labor.
(In an advertisement in the New York papers thin week-end, the American Friends of the Middle East, of which Dorothy Thompson is president, urged “all candidates for election to Congress to refrain from making either pro-Arab or pro-Israeli commitments during the campaign and, if elected, to vote and work only for the best interests of the United States in any matter relating to our Middle Eastern policy.”)
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
