Mark Siegel, former deputy assistant to President Carter, declared last night that “support for President Carter in the American Jewish Community has crumbled.” He said Jews and friends of Israel in the U.S. detect a strong tilt towards the Arabs in the Carter Administration.
Addressing several hundred persons at the Jerusalem Award Founders Dinner of the American Committee for Shaare Zedek Hospital at the Hilton Hotel here, Siegel said that by approving the sale of jet fighters to Saudi Arabia and Egypt, the Senate “has failed to uphold the national integrity.” He said that the confrontation between the Administration and Israel’s supporters has created “the worst crisis of Israel-U.S. relations in 30 years.”
Siegel, who resigned from the Carter Administration recently because of disagreement with the Administration’s Mideast policy, charged that Carter violated his promise made during the election campaign to support Israel totally. In 1976, American Jewry had every reason to believe that the Carter Administration would be a close friend of Israel, he said, citing the strong pro-Israel plank adopted at the Democratic Party convention.
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