Newspaper Page Text
The Southern Israelite
A Weekly Newspaper for Southern Jewry — Established 1925
Vol. XLill
Atlanta, Georgia, Friday, July 19, 1968
Tre' oVt °*k • Roots
No. 29
Humphrey Urges More U.S. Aid High Ranking
Including Jets, For Israel
WASHINGTON (JTA)— Vice
President Hubert H. Humphrey
has called “for continued U. S.
military assistance, including jet
planes, to Israel” but the kind
of planes he had in mind was
left up in the air.
Staff aides to the candidate
for the Democratic Presidential
domination could not say wheth
er Mr. Humphrey was referring
to the supersonic P-4 Phantom
jets that Israel formally request
ed six months ago or the sub
sonic Skyhawks previously sold
to Israel.
Last January, Israel’s Prime
Minister Levi Eshkol, meeting
with President Johnson at the
LBJ Ranch in Texas, request
ed 50 Phantom fighter-bombers,
fastest and most modern war
plane in the American arsenal.
Israel claims it needs the Phan
tom to balance the ultra-mod
ern jets supplied in large num
bers by Soviet Russia to Egypt
and Syria.
The Administration sold the
older and slower Skyhawks to
Israel but has delayed action on
Israel’s application for the Phan
toms. Mr. Humphrey’s state-
Mrs. Meir Steadfast
On Resignation
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Mrs.
Golda Meir held firm to her de
cision to relinquish her post as
general-secretary of the Israel
Labor Party effective August 1.
Efforts to dissuade her, made at
a meeting at the. party's leader
ship bureau, were unavailing and
Mrs. Meir rejected proposals that
she retain the post for some
months longer. In view of her de
termination to retire, the meeting
agreed to refer her resignation to
the party’s secretariat which had
originally elected her. It is un
derstood that some Israeli political
elements are planning to attempt
to bring public pressure to bear
on Mrs. Meir to change her mind.
Mrs. Meir, who just turned 70,
told friends that while she will
quit her post, she will not leave
political life and will “be there
whenever needed”.
Talks between the Israeli Labor
and Mapam Parties on alignment
between the two have resulted
in the setting up of two commit
tees—one to air general issues
and the political aspects of such
proposals and the second to study
the implications of such a union
in Histadrut, Israel’s labor feder
ation.
Eban Proposes
Better Service
On Information
JERUSALEM (JTA) — A plan
by Foreign Minister Abba Eban
has been advanced to strengthen
the Israel Information Service’s
overseas activities through the use
of more trained personnel at a
cost of about $1,142,000. Mr. Eban
has presented his plan to the
Cabinet.
The service had been criticized
for a lack at activity overseas
following the Six-Day War. Un
der the Eban plan, a special
effort would be made to bring
Israel’s views to the intellectual
community abroad. Almost all
foreign capitals would be involv
ed in the plan which calls for
the establishment of special infor
mation officers in Israeli missions
and expanded information activi
ty on university campuses using
Israeli profeasors as lecturers.
ment shed no new light on his
stand regarding the Phantoms.
The Vice President said that
American military aid to Israel
is justified “until permanent
peace is achieved and the arms
race is ended.” He stressed that
“the real answer” lies in agreed
disarmament’ and supported ac
tive U. S. diplomatic efforts to
gain a “general settlement.”
“The cause qf peace will not
be served by the pursuit of mil
itary preponderance by Arab
states through arms deliveries
from the Soviet Union,” Mr.
Humphrey said.
He recalled that he had en
thusiastically supported the cre
ation of Israel on moral and po
litical grounds, and said that the
grounds of a permanent Middle
East peace are the acceptance
of Israel by its Arab neighbors,
the transformation of truce lines
into “agreed and secure boun
daries,” Israeli navigation rights
in the Suez Carnal and Gulf of
Aqaba, an end to the arms race,
and international assistance to
help solve the Arab refugee
problem.
Senator George Murphy, Cal
ifornia Republican, called on
Mr. Humphrey to clarify his
statement on the jets. In a
speech on the Senate floor, Mr.
Murphy announced he is circu
lating a resolution calling on the
Administration to provide su
personic jet aircraft to Israel.
The Senator wondered whether
the Vice-President was feeling
“a bit uncomfortable” about the
Administration’s “rather poor
record on the Middle East.”
Sen. Murphy said, “to date the
U. S. has only agreed to pro
vide subsonic A-4 Skyhawks to
Israel, so if the Vice-President
wants to continue current Ad
ministration arms policies, his
position also may be totally in
adequate. However, the Vice-
President avoided mentioning
what kind of jet fighters he
wants to sell Israel. If he is
talking about supersonic F-4
Phantoms, he is breaking with
current Administration policy
and he should say so emphatical-
ly.”
New Supertanker
To Deliver Oil
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel
will purchase three 250,000
deadweight ton supertankers to
transport oil to Eilat, on the
Gulf of Aqaba, where a 42-inch
pipeline is being laid to the Med
iterranean port of Ashkelon,
Minister of Transport Moshe
Carmel told the Knesset.
He said that these vessels,
which will be among the largest
afloat, will make Israel inde
pendent of foreign shipping in
hauling the oil, a vital resource.
Israel already owns tankers in
the 60,000-ton class, a size that
was considered “super” up until
a few years ago.
Long-Time Mayor
Pushed for Senate
BISMARCK, N. D. (JTA) —
Herschel Lashkowitz, who served
as Mayor of Fargo, North Da
kota’s largest city, for 14 years,
has been nominated by the De
mocratic State Convention as
that party’s candidate for the
United States Senate.
Mr. Lashkowitz, 48, will op
pose the incumbent. Senator
Milton Young, 70, a Republican,
in the November election. A
A World War H veteran, Mr.
Lashkowitz is a member of
B’nai B’rith and Temple Beth
El in Fargo.
U. S. Officials
In Jerusalem
JERUSALEM (JTA) — Israel
Government officials prepared tor
meetings with four high ranking
American statesmen who were
here for a series of talks that
were regarded as crucial to the
ongoing Middle East crisis.
Ambassador George Ball, newly
appointed United States chief rep
resentative to the United Nations,
was expected, accompanied by
Assistant Secretary of State Jose
ph Sisco and Alfred Atherton,
chief of the Anaib-Israel desk in
the State Department. They were
to be met by U. S. Ambassador
Walworth Barbour and by Gideon.
Rafael, director-general of the
Israel Foreign Ministry.
Expected to land several hours
earlier was McGeorge Bundy,
president of the Ford Foundation
and a former White House ad
visor on international affairs,who
was coming as a guest of the Gov
ernment. He is chairman of
President Johnson’s advisory
committee on the Middle East.
Mr. Ball, Mr. Sisco and Mr.
Atherton were scheduled to have
several talks with Prime Minister
Abba Eban and other Foreign
Ministry officials. They were to
be received also by Prime Min
ister Levi Eshkol. They were also
scheduled to confer with Deputy
Prime Minister Yigal Allon and
with Defense Minister Gen.
Moshe Dayan.
Nixon Hit
On Golf Club
Membership
NEW YORK (JTA)— Former
Vice President Richard M.
Nixon’s membership in a New
Jersey golf club that allegedly
excludes Jews and Negroes was
spotlighted here when Senator
Clifford Case, New Jersey Re
publican, criticized clubs with
restrictive membership policies
although he declined to rebuke
Mr. Nixon directly.
According to the New York
Post, Mr. Nixon, who is seeking
the Republican Presidential
nomination, defended his mem
bership in the Baltusrol Golf
Club of Springfield, N. J. and
said he would not resign be
cause, “I believe in working for
change from the inside.”
Sen. Case had noted his own
and the late Senator Robert F.
Kennedy’s resignations from the
Metropolitan Club of Washing
ton, D. C. because of the club’s
racially restrictive membership
policies.
According to the Post, the
Baltusrol Club’s president, Rob
ert Finney, said the club elect
ed its members “in the normal
way” but refused to discuss the
absence of Jewish or Negro
members. Carl Jehlen, the club’s
manager, said “to my knowledge
there are no Negro or Jewish
members,” the Post reported. He
said the club’s by-laws did not
exclude Jews or Negroes but
that applicants for membership
must be sponsored by active
members. Mr. Nixon was report
ed to have joined the club two
years ago.
AGE 2,000 YEARS—Bulldozers, busy levelling grow* fu ■ »>»
building near Tel Aviv, suddenly came acroasgfgantlc, incredibly
strong roots—almost unbelievable because there was not a tree
visible anywhere in the neighborhood. Curious, the engineers spent
10 days tracing the mysterious growth. Finally, a mile, away, they
discovered a sturdy sycamore tree whose roots had indeed stretch
ed that distance. After examination, experts estimated the tree
to be about 2,000 years old. (Israel Son Photo)
Debate Grows Warm In Effort
To Fix Blame for Ship Shelling
Dayan to Visit
NEW YORK (JTA) — Gen.
Moshe Dayan, Israel's Minister
of Defense, will make a one-
day visit to the United States in
December to address the annual
banquet of the United Jewish
Appeal here. The function is
scheduled for Dec. 4.
By MILTON FRIEDMAN
(J.T.A. Staff Correspondent)
WASHINGTON (JTA) — The
Defense Department has referr
ed to the State Department the
question of where financial res
ponsibility must lie in the case
of the Israeli attack on the
American spy ship, the U.S.S.
Liberty, off the Sinai coast on
June 8, 1967, during the height
of the Six-Day War.
The disclosure last week that
a Navy communications foul-up
had led to the presence of the
Liberty off the Sinai coast
where it was mistaken for an
Egyptian vessel and attacked by
Israeli torpedo boats and planes,
touched off a Congressional de-
mamd that the U. S. refund to
Israel the $3,323,500 paid in dam
ages.
Rep. Seymour Halpern, New
York Republican asked in the
House that “since testimony just
released by a House subcom-
mitte discloses that it was U. S.
Government communications sys
tem negligence mistakes and in
competence which jeopardized
the Liberty, why should Israel
have to pay foe our own tragic
comedy of errors?”
The testimony, published by
the House Defense Appropria
tions Subcommittee, was given
at hearings last April and May
on the Defense Department’s
1969 budget. It revealed a series
of blunders and misroutings of
messages. The Liberty, a com
munications ship, was attacked
repeatedly by Israeli planes.
Thirty-four Americans were
killed and 75 were wounded. Is
rael expressed regret at the time
and said it was “prepared to
make amends for the tragic loes
of life and material damage,”
which it subsequently did. The
U. S. claimed that the sihip was
13.6 nautical miles off Sinai
when the attack occured.
Rep. Halpern said that “the
revelation of the fact that Amer
ican mistakes were responsible
for the terrible losses sustained
in American dead and wound
ed would indicate that the Ad-
minstration’s legal authorities
(should) reassess Israel’s respon
sibility in the restitution ques
tion.
Israel, he said, “voluntarily of
fered at the time of the incident
to make restitution. It would
have been only fair and honor
able for the Administration to
have disclosed to Israel and to
American public opinion that
U. S. incompetence rather than
Israeli irresponsibility was cul
pable.”
Klutznick Elected
NEW YORK (JTA)—Philip M.
Klutznick of Chicago, a nation
al Jewish leader, has been
elected chairman of the board
of the Swiss Israel Trade
The bank is one of the largest
commercial banks in Switzer
land. Its headquarters are in
Geneva. Its affiliated banks in
clude the Foreign Trade Rant
Ltd., Israel and it has branches
throughout the world.