The National Zionist Administrative Council, ruling body of the Zionist Organization of America, appealed to the Government today, “at the eleventh hour,” to rectify past blunders and adopt a new policy in the Middle East. At the same time, the council urged President Eisenhower to authorize the immediate shipment of arms required by Israel and initiate discussions with the Israel Government for negotiation of a mutual security pact.
A resolution adopted by the special all-day session, after considerable debate, expressed grave concern “over the severe diplomatic and political defeats” suffered by this country and the West generally in the Middle East. It described the “steady deterioration of the American position in that crucial area as the inevitable result of the self-defeating policy pursued by our government in recent years.” It termed the Suez Canal crisis “tragic vindication” of criticism of American policy which the State Department ignored.
The resolution welcomed the Democratic and Republican Party platform statements on Israel and noted with satisfaction the forthright and unequivocal call of the Democratic Party for the supply of defensive arms to Israel and the pledge of the Republican Party to stand by Israel against armed aggression.”
Dr. Emanuel Neumann, member of the Jewish Agency Executive and chairman of the ZOA national executive committee, told the session that the seizure of the Suez Canal was the “sickening climax” of a policy of failure to protect Israel’s rights. He denounced “pro-Arab and pro-Nasser apologists” in the American foreign service for seeking to build up Egyptian dictator Nasser in the public mind as “a pacific and constructive statesman with pro-Western sympathies.”
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.
