A U.S. Congressman warned today that oil interests and the “Arab lobby” will try to reverse America’s current pro-Israel policy by appealing to the President “in the wake of a fictitious energy crisis” that the U.S. needs Arab oil.
Rep. Benjamin Rosenthal (D.N.Y.) voiced the warning in a speech to 700 delegates attending the annual mid-winter conference of the National Committee for Labor Israel here. Rosenthal, who recently visited Israel, said there was neither peace nor war in the Middle East but a status quo and that he believed that neither side really wants to change it. Describing U.S. policy “at the moment” as “not really bad,” he urged vigilance because “it will be hard to get a foreign aid bill through Congress in the post-Vietnam spirit of isolation.”
Avraham Shifrin, an Israeli who claims to have spent 14 years in Soviet labor camps, was arrested Friday afternoon in front of the Soviet Embassy in Washington in an apparent test of city regulations which bar public speeches or sermons without a police permit. The 49-year-old Israeli was talking to newsmen when he was arrested. He was freed on $10 bond for appearance in court on Feb. 20, Shifrin testified last week before the Senate subcommittee on internal security at which he said that the camps remained unchanged and that they contained some five million prisoners.
Thousands of parcels, including matzos and clothing, destined for Soviet Jews were accumulating today in the Tel Aviv post office. Unless they are sent within a few days to their destination they may not reach the Soviet Union in time for Passover which begins April 17. The parcel post clerks started a go-slow strike in support of the customs officials’ go-slow strike, who are demanding extra allowances for their special effort in face of lack of manpower.
A contribution of 220,500 pounds of powdered milk by the Swiss government was reported by Samuel L. Haber, executive vice-chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee. A like amount was donated in 1972, he noted. The Swiss government has also underwritten the costs of packing, inland freight, and half the ocean freight, as it did last, year, Haber said. This has Increased the total value of the Swiss contribution to $193,000. The milk will be used in JDC programs in Israel, Iran and Yugoslavia, he added.
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.
