Premier Golda Meir said yesterday that her talks with President Nixon in the White House last Thursday were “serious, frank and productive,” according to an Israeli spokesman at a press briefing for members of the Israeli press and the Jewish Telegraphic Agency after she addressed a closed-door meeting of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations at the Waldorf-Astoria. Mrs. Meir said the talks included, continuing economic assistance and loans to Israel and the purchase of armaments.
Mrs. Meir reportedly said part of her meeting with the President was devoted to the question of whether there was any chance for a settlement in the Middle East and the attitude of the Arab states. She expressed the belief that Jordan’s King Hussein and Egyptian emissary Hafez Ismail did not bring any new suggestions to their meetings with American officials in Washington. The situations she said is at present static, but she hoped it might change.
In response to questions by the Jewish leaders concerning Arab terrorism, the Premier was reported to have said there was no recipe for waging a war against terrorism. In conducting actions against Arab terrorist bases where Japanese and Europeans are also trained, she said Israel is preventing terrorist acts against itself.
She pointed out that there is almost no terror ist activity in Israel or in the administered territories, and that ironically Arabs suffered more from terrorism within the Jewish State. It was recalled that Secretary of State William P. Rogers last Dec. had called upon the United Nations for punishment or extradition of international terrorists, but that the General Assembly voted instead for Arab proposals to study the question.
THOUSANDS OF SOVIET JEWS SEEK EMIGRATION
The spokesman said that referring to emigration from the Soviet Union, Mrs. Meir expressed satisfaction that new immigrants continue to come, although not in the desired amount. She said there were many problems in absorbing the new immigrants, but that many immigrants are helping with the absorption of the newer ones. The main problems, she said, are the adjustment of newcomers to a new society and the shortage of housing.
Criticizing the Soviet education tax, Mrs. Mein said that on the one hand Soviet authorities allow Jews to leave, while on the other hand they wage a ransom policy. She talked about the scores of “Zion prisoners” in Siberia and the tens of thousands who are waiting to emigrate while living in unbearable conditions.
Mrs. Meir was also reported to have said her visit with Pope Paul VI in the Vatican in February did not solve all the problems between Israel and the Vatican, but that its was an important step. She said the Pope made no mention of the internationalization of Jerusalem. She said she hoped the dialogue with the Vatican would continue.
In other matters, Mrs. Meir said the present world energy crisis posed a severe problem and that oil states such as Libya and Saudi Arabia were accumulating money which could help them control the economies of other countries. She came out strongly against intermarriage outside of Israel. Referring to the Langer case, she said the rabbi should always have a heart when dealing with these kind of problems.
Appearing earlier on CBS-TV “Face The Nation,” the Israeli Premier said she saw no progress by any of the Arab countries moving toward some Kind of peace talks with Israel. She termed the downing of the Libyan airliner a terrible tragedy, condemned the executions of the two American and one Belgian diplomat, and urged the world community to take steps to rout terrorist activities.
JEWISH PROBLEMS BECOME WORLD PROBLEMS
At a private reception last night in the home of Ambassador and Mrs. Yosef Tekoah, the Israeli Premier, speaking in Hebrew, told the guests that of all the Arab terrorists who have perpetrated atrocities in the West only one is in prison, in England. “All the others are free,” Mrs. Meir remarked and noted that the terrorists who committed crimes in Munich. Italy and Bangkok are back in Arab countries, in Syria and Libya, where they have received warm welcomes.
She noted that terrorism, which began as a problem for Jews, bus now become a world problem. “Hitler, too. was at the beginning only a problem for Jews,” Mrs. Meir said. “In fact, many problems that are now world problems began first as Jewish problems.”
Referring to the harsh struggle King Hussein has waged against terrorists in Jordan, she said, smiling, “Kol hakavod (all the honor) to Hussein.” Continuing, she said: “We are all told that we have to ‘save’ the King, and that he could do nothing against the terrorists. But when they were close to the palace, he fought them. Now we are told not to act against (Egyptian President Anwar) Sadat, because he can’t act against the terrorists and that we have to ‘save’ him…”.
Pausing for a moment, Mrs. Meir added, to the laughter of the-guests “…but no one talks about ‘saving’ the Prime Minister of Israel.” Asked by one of the guests to comment on Hussein’s health (who Mrs. Meir was rumored to have met last week in Washington), the Premier said jokingly. “If I told you that I’d be admitting that I met him, and that I won’t do.”
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.
