1117ashington. London Review Middle
•
to Its Dangers to Peace;
Dulles T1 milts
Value of Egyptian Material Belittled
Direct JTA Teletype Wire
To The Jewish News
WASHINGTON—Secretary of
State • John Foster Dulles ex-
pressed the view that large-
scale arms shipments by East
or West to the Arab-Israel area
were not contributing to peace.
He told a press conference he
thought it was not in the in-
terest of peace to have an arms
race, citing the 1950 Tripartite
Declaration to which he said,
the United States still adhered,
but added that large-scale mu-
nitions shipments by one side
or the other, east or west, were
not contributing to peace.
Mr. Dulles described the stat-
us of Israel's arms purchase ap-
plication as "still pending." He
said he would probably _talk
further about the matter with
Israel Ambassador Abba Eban
in the next few days.
The question was raised about
the Defense Department's re-
ports that Yugoslavia has
agreed to sell munitions to
Egypt. Mr. Dulles declined a
direct comment, saying he had
no information on the matter,
neither did he comment directly
when asked about Yugoslavia
allowing the transit of Czech
arms bound for Egypt. He didn't
say that the United States pro-
vided military aid to Yugoslavia
and that such weapons could not
be transferred to another nation
by Yugoslavia. The bulk of U.S.
arms deliveries to Yugoslavia
have already been made, he
said.
through the United Nations be-
fore considering independent
or individual action. There was
a question, he said, as to wheth-
er UN action was feasible be-
cause of the Soviet Union's atti-
tude.
The Secretary was asked what
action the Big Three western
powers might take if the Secur-
ity Council did not act. He re-
plied he felt it improper to
speculate on that now.
Questioned about matters to
be discussed with British Prime
Minister Eden, Mr. Dulles said
he could not give details. He
said the Eden-Eisenhower meet-
ing was designed to be general
in character and that according
to the agenda no specific agree-
ments were to be reached.
*
*
*
Asked about America's role
in the event of aggression in the
Near East, involving Arab Arms Debate Forced
states and Israel, Mr. Dulles said
By Public Clamor
the United States would take
LONDON — Tanks and gun
appropriate action within and
outside the United Nations. He carriages supplied to Israel and
said if it were at all practical, Egypt through reshipment of
this country would seek action British surplus war material
Purely Commentary
WASHINGTON—The Emergency Conference of the 17 na-
tional American Jewish Organizations was packed full of dyna-
mite. The State Department watched it. Members of Congress
were observers at an • important session.
Its most important aspect was the mobilization of American
Jewry's public opinion in defense of Israel. There are war clouds
over the Middle East, and if they are to be dispelled the kins-
men of those most seriously affected must be alerted to the
mounting dangers.
The shocking, self-hating actions of a handful of Jews
have earned them the label of Un-American Council Against
Judaism. We go a step farther: their heartlessness, their lack of
a sense of justice brands them as anti-American. It was natural,
therefore, that the actions of this group in spreading lies against
their coreligionists in poison letters and verbal statements to
the State Department and members of Congress should be con-
demned. They are lower than mosrim-informers: an informer
on occasion reveals a truth to harm his fellow-men; this group
spreads only lies.
Nevertheless, this Commentator believes that we have digni-
fied a cruelly destructive group too much. A single herein should
suffice to excommunicate people who call themselves Jews, but
who have joined the Arab-Soviet conspiracy to destroy Israel.
A vital issue, which was tackled admirably by Dr. Israel
Goldstein, is the infiltration of Arab propaganda by diplomats
from the Middle East who are conducting a violent anti-Jewish
and anti-American campaign in this country.
Senator James H. Duff (R., Pa.), while "speaking as an
individual," took a strong stand in favor of the guaranteeing of
borders in the explosive area, in support of arms to Israel "to
offset arms to Egypt" and to "maintain the proper balance be-
tween them."
Especially worthy of note is the statement of the Maronite
priest, the Rev. Monsignor Louis B. Khalil:
"We are all of us deeply disturbed, today perhaps more
than ever before, by the terrible state of tension that has gripped
the Middle East for the past generation. Many, many voices—
some sincere, but some very far from sincere—all clamor for
peace. But we Lebanese—and I say this regardless of whatever
the Lebanese government itself may or may not do—I say, we
Lebanese consider the question of peace a matter of life or
death for our continued existence as a people. It is as simple
as that. Lebanon—and when I say Lebanon I confess that I am
thinking primarily of the Christian community, the basic life-
giving nationality in the country—Lebanon has no future unless
the tensions which are now tearing apart the fabric of society
in the Middle East are somehow stopped. Peace for us is not a
matter of rhetoric or propaganda, but is vital to our very ex-
istence.
"Some skeptics may ask—peace with whom? The answer is
as simple as the -problem. It is—peace with everyone. Peace with
the Arabs, peace with the British, peace with the French and—
peace with Israel.
"I and hundreds of thousands of my Maronite compatriots
regard the present collaboration of the Lebanese Government
with the Arab League as a grotesque, irresponsible and pro-
foundly dangerous adventure. For it seems to us obvious that the
continual crises, military and otherwise, that afflict the Middle
East, and through the Middle East the rest of the world, are
directly due to the incapacity of the present Arab Governments
to cope with the real probleins affecting their peoples, and to
the consequent temptation to gamble with fate by provoking a
state of alarm in the Middle East."
The spirit of the Emergency Conference was excellent; the
interest shown in it by members of Congress was good; the
attention given it by the press was discouraging.
One major note of criticism: our leaders have yet to learn
the value of brevity. From Nahum Goldmann down the line,
the Jewish speakers were long-winded. It is high time they
learned that a punch-line must be short, that an effective
speech dare not be dragged out.
From this point on, if Israel's security and the peace of
the Middle East are to be guaranteed, no one dares be silent
in defense of justice. The big job is yet to be achieved. The
battle against injustice has just begun. The Emergency Con-
ference merely sounded the keynote when delegates resolved,
unanimously, to protest against the truncation of Israel.
as Arms Hare
were of little military value,
even if equipment which had
been demilitarized were recon-
ditioned for military use, Sir
Walter Monckton, Minister of
L' - fense, declared in Commons
Tuesday. Sir Walter led off for
the government in a debate
forced on it by Laborites and
great public clamor resulting
from British press reports of
tanks going to Egypt via Bel-
gium.
Prime Minister Sir Anthony
Eden and Foreign Secretary
Selwyn Lloyd, who were pres-
enein the House during the de-
bate, left that evening for the
United States to confer with
President Eisenhower and Sec-
retary of State Dulles beginning
Jan. 30.
Trying to explain away the
value of the estimated 150 Val-
entine tanks that had been re-
conditioned in Belgium where
they arrived from Britain and
shipped to Egypt, Sir Walter
insisted that they were not
tanks at all but heavy self-
propelled guns used mainly as
The Dynamite-Laden Emergency
By Philip
Washington Conference, Israel's
Lone Hand at the UN and Slomovitz
Jewry's Response to the Needs
in his cable to his paper in Damascus, gloated: "Arabs never had
it so good." This is an exact quotation. It expresses in words the
smiles that are on all anti-Israel faces in this 38-story "paper
factory."
That's how an eminent newspaperman described to me this
vast structure in which so many reports are issued, so much
paper is consumed, that it may be contributing to the American
paper shortage. The more than 5,000 employees of the 67 UN
member-nations now represent a tremendous vested interest
in world affairs.
The excitement generated in the portals of the UN by Israel's
problems lend it greater glamor than most other issues.
An Australian publisher, on a tour of the UN building with
Victor Bienstock, the dynamic general manager of the Jewish
Telegraphic Agency (Vic's ONA articles at one time were among
this Australian newspapers' leading features), commented: "What
a wonderful hotel this would make!" Now lovers of justice must
pray that decency won't be lulled to sleep in this "hotel."
'justice surely slumbered when the resolution censuring Israel
was adopted by the 11-nation Security Council. There are a few—
a handful in the vast sea of correspondents, diplomats, inter-
national "statesmen"—who recognize and admit - the injustice of
endless rebukes to Israel while the Arab states are pampered
here. But the battle isn't over. Perhaps a modern Emile Zola
will yet arise to shout: "J'Accuse" at the heartlessness of nations,
who, frightened out of their wits by an Arab-Soviet alliance, are
condoning a threat to the very life of Israel.
"Shame!" is the word with which to greet the UN Security
Council's extreme/ act.
- Our own State Department reports that Egypt is getting sub-
marines, 200 jet bombers and Russian MIG fighters. Israel does
not have defensive weapons against air and sea attacks. The
British claim that the Sherman and Valentine tanks she is send-
ing to Egypt are "obsolete, unreliable," but even obsolete weapons
are denied Israel for self-defense.
The picture, on the eve of the Dulles-Eden-Eisenhower meet-
ing, is not a pretty one All we can do is pray that decency will
prevent complete distortion of sacred, international obligations
and the restoration, through firm efforts for an Israel-Arab peace,
of the Holy aspects of the Holy Land.
*
*
*
Abba Eban's 'Daring Belief' in Israel's Future
NEW YORK—American Jewry's generosity, expressed in in-
creased gifts to the United Jewish Appeal, helps remove some
of the gloom that marks the position of Israel on the inter-
national front. From Washington and the United Nations, there-
fore, we turn to the outburst of enthusiasm that was in evidence
at the dinner given here Saturday evening in honor of Senator
Herbert H. Lehman.
, The chairman of the meeting, Samuel Bronfman of Canada,
and the Lehmans, led the parade of big givers. It was a remark-
able demonstration that rivaled American Jewry's pro-Israel
enthusiasm of 1948.
After his heart-breaking appeals in behalf of his country,
in Washington and before the United Nations, Israel's Ambassa-
dor Abba Eban made an important statement at the Lehman
dinner. "Israel," he said, "will be successful in efforts to
strengthen its defenses. Not because we have received assur-
ances from the world powers, but I dare not believe anything
else. I can not see that it will be in the interest of the western
world that our future should be in the hands of Egyptian dicta-
torships."
"I dare not believe anything else" must become the slogan
of all of us who are striving for Israel's security. It is a difficult
battle—especially, as Ambassador Eban pointed out, since the
Arabs have gained in strength, since they now number 50,000,000
people, possessing 3,000,000 square miles of land as compared
with Israel's small territory of 8,000 square miles; since the mem-
bership of the Arab League now has grown to nine.
Senator Lehman, whose name is now linked with the State
of Israel in the form of a permanent settlement bearing his
name, and Abba Eban received warm responses to their appeals
for aid to Israel's defense. The 'battle is far from lost as long
as Israel's kinsmen won't let her down.
Israel's battle is far from lost, as long as men like Joe Holtz-
man, Detroit's "dynamo,. set the pace with generous gifts.
*
*
*
The • horizon- :is. ,gloomy, but the faith which inspired ful
Mime/It of Prophecy also Will provide security for the realiza-
Israel's Lone Hand: 'Arabs Never Had It So Good'
UNITED NATIONS, N.Y.—An Arab correspondent at the UN, tion of an historic. dream... •
guns. These had their
anti-tank guns.
breeches blocked and firing
mechanisms removed and would
not add to Egyptian military
strength even if remilitarized,
he insisted.
He also called useless an esti-
mated 50 to 100 Sherman tank
bodies shipped to France from
where they were resold to Israel.
He had no doubt, he continued,
that they were used as agri-
cultural machinery and had no
more military value than other
heavy farm machinery. He re-
fused to reply to queries about
supplies of Centurion "heavy"
tanks to Iraq or jet planes to
Jordan, noting that this dealt
with „government - to - govern-
ment sales about which he
would say nothing. He said
Britain was not the only country
supplying arms to the Middle
East, citing the Czech-Egyptian
deal and recalling reports of
MIG fighters flying over Cairo.
Hugh Gaitskell, Labor Party
chairman who indicated before
the debate began that his party
would attempt to expand the
debate into one on Britain's
Middle East policy in general,
agreed that surplus weapons
were not comparable in value
and importance with new weap-
ons, but stressed that what
Britain considered obsolete
might be of greater value to
other countries. He hit the gov-
ernment for its "slipshod, lax
administration" and its failure
to tighten export restrictions as
soon as it became aware of a
"leak" of surplus goods.
Leebove, Winkelman
Head Mercantile Group
Leebove
Winkelman
Arthur Leebove and Stanley
'J. Winkelman, Mercantile Di-
vision co-charimen for the
1955 Allied Jewish Campaign,
will serve in the same capac-
ity this year, announced Al-
lied Jewish Campaign chair-
man John E. Lurie, and Max
M. Fisher, co-chairman. Both
Leebove and Winkelman are
on the board of directors of
the Detroit Service g r o u p.
Leebove was a member of
the recent DSG Caravan to
Israel. Winkelman serves on
the board of the Jewish Home
for Aged and on the execu-
tive committee of the Jewish
Community Council. He was
co-chairman of United Foun-
dation commerce and profes-
sional division.
Actress Eleanor Powell
To Aid Denver Home
Mrs. Glenn Ford (Actress
Eleanor Powell) has been ap-
pointed tribute chairman of the
Jewish National Home for Asth-
matic Children at Denver, it
was announced r
by Mrs. Fan-
nie E. Lorber, /-
JNHAC presi-
dent.
Mrs. Ford
was cited for
her service to
the National
Home, a free,
nationwide
medical center
for the treat- Mrs. Ford
ment of children suffering from
chronic intractable asthma.
The Honie's program was *the
subject of an article in the med,
ical section of a recent issue of
NewSweek niaga.tine.
2—Detroit JewisK., News
Friday, January • 27, - 1956'