Kenen Urges Immediate U.s.military, Economic Aid to Israel; Badeau Opposes Jet Sale

I.L.Kenen, executive vice chairman of the American-Israel Public Affairs Committee, told the Near East Subcommittee of the House Foreign Affairs Committee today that immediate United States military and economic aid to Israel was vital–not only for Israel’s security but to make it clear to the Arabs and the Soviet Union that the U.S. is firmly behind the Jewish State. Mr. Kenen observed that the U.S. has never offered a military-aid grant to Israel and that its economic-aid grant ended nearly 10 years ago. Meanwhile, he told the legislators, this country has sent billions of dollars in such aid to numerous nations whose security is not nearly as perilous as Israel’s. Opposition to jets for Israel was voiced at the hearing by John Badeau. ambassador to Cairo in the Kennedy administration and now a professor at Columbia University. He recommended that the Soviet influence in the Middle East be countered by “new cooperative ventures” between the U.S. and Turkey and Iran.

“Uncritical support of Israel” and “an unchecked flow of arms” to that country would simply lead to corresponding Soviet buildups in Egypt, re-enforcing the Soviet position there. Mr. Badeau asserted. He endorsed U.S. arms for Israel only for the defense of the territory she held prior to the Six-Day War. Contending that the U.S. is virtually unable to eliminate the USSR’s Mideast presence. Mr. Badeau described Dr. Henry A. Kissinger’s proposal to “expel” them as “the crudest form of diplomatic bluffing.” (President Nixon argued Monday that the “expelling” was “not with the idea of using armed force for that purpose but to negotiate any peaceful settlement.”) Mr. Badeau criticized the Nixon administration for “torpedoing” the peace efforts of Secretary of State William P, Rogers. The former ambassador also contended that the United Nations could persuade the Palestinians to establish their own state in the West Bank and Northern Jordan if “third world” countries like Yugoslavia, India and Ethiopia were to “stand up and scream” for it.