Israeli officials here are in agreement that the change in the U.S. Administration following Republican Ronald Reagan’s victory in Tuesday’s Presidential election will not change American policy toward Israel and the Middle East conflict. They noted that Israel enjoys Democratic and Republican bipartisan support and expressed confidence that the “friendship” between the U.S. and Israel will continue under President-elect Reagan.
Yehuda Blum, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, said that “We are confident that U.S. friendship toward Israel will continue in the future,” because “the friendship between Israel and America is based on a broad national consensus and is expressed in the Administrations of both the Republicans and the Democrats.
Blum recalled the strong pro-Israeli statements by Reagan and Vice President-elect George Bush during the Presidential campaign. He also mentioned the Carter Administration’s efforts on behalf of the peace process in the Mideast and its contribution to strengthening Israel’s security.
“I am confident,” Blum said, “that the new Administration will support Israel’s peace policy and will continue to contribute to strengthening Israel.”
Yosef Kedar, Israel’s Consul General in New York, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, “I believe that the friendly and supportive American policy toward Israel will continue with the new Administration.” Israel, he noted, “enjoys bipartisan support in the United States.” Kedar added that the support of Israel among Americans transcends party lines.
CITES REASON FOR CARTER’S DEFEAT
Meanwhile, American Zionist leaders also reacted to the election results. According to Charlotte Jacobson, chairman of the World Zionist Organization-American Section, Carter’s defeat “was a repudiation of an Administration which was beset by economic problems at home and international concerns abroad. The nation voted its unhappiness with harsh economic conditions and uncertainty that distressed families hand pressed by mounting inflation and vanishing savings.”
She also contended that “The Administration’s failure to demand and obtain more support from our allies, the abuse of the United States in the United Nations which it was unable or unwilling to prevent or counter successfully, the apparent knuckling under to Arab blackmail via their oil well spigot and wealth to dictate to Washington, rankled our citizens.”
CONGRATULATIONS TO REAGAN
Rabbi Joseph Sternstein, president of the American Zionist Federation, said in a message of congratulations to Reagan that “As American Zionists, we have followed with keen attention and gratitude the splendid pronouncements you mode during your campaign concerning the position of Israel and the Middle East.
“Particularly, were we gratified at your support of a unified Jerusalem in its present status of control, your vigorous opposition to PLO terrorism, your support of the peace process undertaken by Israel and Egypt and your voiced determination to support Israel in the United Nations against the onslaughts of the Soviet-Arab bloc. We further applaud your recognition of Israel as an indispensable strategic ally of the United States in the Middle East.”
Frieda Lewis, president of Hadassah, congratulated Reagan on his election and extended “heartfelt wishes for a fulfilling presidency for him and for our nation. We are confident that he will strive to obtain the best talent to serve the American people. We have been heartened by President-elect Reagan’s repeated statements that, like his predecessors in office, he will maintain the traditional close alliance between the United States and the democracy of Israel which is our country’s oldest and most dependable ally in the Middle East.”
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.
