Gov. Edmund Brown has called on the Reagan Administration to withhold the scheduled delivery of AWACS reconnaissance aircraft to Saudi Arabia unless the Saudi government recognizes Israel’s right to exist.
Addressing editors and publishers from Anglo-Jewish publications throughout the country attending the 40th annual meeting of the American Jewish Press Association (AJPA) at the Hotel del Coronado here last week, Brown charged that a White House letter which pledged Saudi reconciliation toward Israel as an unofficial condition to gain Senate approval of the sale was instrumental in squelching the Senate opposition.
While the House vetoed this sale, the Senate last year narrowly approved the Administration’s proposal. The arms package includes five AWACS radar planes, extra fuel tanks for 62 American made F-15 fighter-jets previously ordered by the Saudis, an undisclosed number of AIM-9L air-to-air missiles and seven KC-135 refueling planes.
Citing Saudi Arabia’s hostile treatment of Israel including a formal declaration of a “jihad” (holy war) against the Jewish State, Brown, who is seeking a U.S. Senate seat, said he would work to cancel the scheduled delivery if elected.
Following his address, Brown said at a press conference that he opposed American contacts with the Palestine Liberation Organization and that he endorsed U.S. recognition of Jerusalem as the capital of Israel since 1976.
BLOOM REELECTED AJPA PRESIDENT
The AJPA, during its two day meeting, reelected Albert Bloom, editor of the Jewish Chronicle of Pittsburgh as President. Doris Sky, managing editor of the Intermountain Jewish News of Denver, was the recipient of the first Joseph Polakoff Award for Journalistic Integrity. Polakoff formerly was the Jewish Telegraphic Agency’s Washington Bureau chief. It was announced that AJPA will have its mid-year meeting in Los Angeles in November, coinciding with the General Assembly of the Council of Jewish Federations.
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.
