A Hoover Commission report on overseas economic operations today linked future United States aid to Israel with American foreign policy objectives with respect to Israel.
Conclusions of an extensive study of aid to Israel and other countries were made known in the report by the body which is formally known as the “Commission on Organization of the Executive Branch of the Government” and which is under the chairmanship of former President Herbert Hoover. The report was transmitted to Congress. It stated.
“Whether or not future aid to Israel other than technical assistance should be continued depends on United States foreign policy objectives with respect to the future of that country. Immediate objectives have been reached. Immigration has stopped, temporarily at least. The country is not in acute financial distress or in danger of becoming so in the immediate foreseeable future. There is no serious internal weakness in Israel that would invite Arab attack; and no important pressures within Israel to attack the Arab states. There is no immediate apparent danger that the armistice agreement obligation of the United States (along with that of Britain and France) to maintain the present boundaries between Israel and the Arab states will lead to the involvement of this country.
SAYS UNITED STATES HAS MORAL OBLIGATION TO HELP ISRAEL
“On the other hand,” the report continues, “the United States may have some moral obligation to Israel since it exerted a strong influence in the decision to set up an independent nation and a national home for the Jewish people there. The country has made rapid progress, but it still has some years to go (possibly 7 or 8) before it becomes economically self-sufficient even at the level of the present low standard of living. In the meanwhile, it must depend on reparations, loans, and gifts from its friends abroad.
“Until it achieves viability it will be a potential danger spot,” the report stresses “Present United States policy is to relieve reasons for tension between Israel and the Arab states as rapidly as possible. Economic assistance to both sides will increase United States influence and make its task of preventing war in that strategic area much easier. The extent and form of future United States assistance to Israel, if any, should be based on a United States foreign policy decision, developed in part from recommendations of the National Security Council.
From its inception to the present, United States economic aid to Israel has influenced events there and has played an important part in bringing about the present fairly satisfactory situation. It has been administered in as satisfactory a manner as could be expected, ” the report states. “Much more, however, could have been accomplished with better administration of the technical assistance program. Since technical assistance will probably continue for some time to come, and since it can accomplish results substantially greater than the amount of funds expended, this type of United States aid in Israel should be given greater emphasis.
“The cost of the Israel program, $186,000,000 for economic aid, $1,200,000 for technical assistance, and $1,000,000 for administration, does not seem too great a price to have paid for preventing that country from going bankrupt with the concomitant risk of Arab attack and war in this strategic area of the Middle East, “the report points out. “Undoubtedly some mistakes have been made, but in relation to the amount of money expended and the results achieved, they do not loom too large, “the report concludes.
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.
