Arabs Spend Twice As Much As Israel on Information Work in U.S.

The Arab Information Center in the United States spent more than twice as much here in the calendar year of 1962 as the Israel Office of Information, according to the report of the Attorney General to Congress on the administration of the Foreign Agents Registration Act.

The last report made available in Washington today, dated October 1963, shows that the Arab Information Center spent $219,841 and the United Arab Republic tourist office spent $111,783 in the United States in 1962. The Israel Office of Information spent $99,108 and the Israel Tourist Office $244,802 in the same period — which is an almost exactly reverse proportion between the two sides.

Eight of the Arab League countries have engaged foreign agents in this country, according to the report. The Arabs spent a total of $443,000 directly or through their registered agents, while Israel spent $412,000. However, a breakdown of the figures indicates that, of the totals, the Arabs spent $198,000 for the promotion of tourism, etc., and $245,000 for the dissemination of information and propaganda. Israel, on the other hand, spent only $100,000 on information and propaganda, and the rest, $312,000, to promote tourism, investments and other business activities.

In the introductory chapter of the report, the Attorney General noted that some of the material distributed by the Arabs dealt specifically with Israel. The chapter also noted that a second source of Arab propaganda was the Palestine Arab delegation, which took over the role previously played by the Palestine Refugee Office. The report, however, does not show that the Palestine Arab delegation ever notified the Attorney General’s office of any funds spent in the United States.