iddle East Issue Forced Into
n Debate by A tialsrael Drive
Arab Boycott Coridemned ;
Aim to Stop Discussion THE JEWISH NEWS
A Weekly Review
Assailed as 'Blackmail'
Extension of the Arab anti-Israel boycott to include
American business firms, attempts to stifle discussion of the
Middle East issue during the next Presidential campaign,
attacks on American Jewry and efforts to harm the United
Jewish Appeal, are among the issues that were injected in
the past few days in the Arab-Israel issue, on the eve of the
Eisenhower-Eden talks that commenced on ..Monday.
As a result, instead of stifling discussion, the issue is wide
open. Public debate is bringing to the fore misuse of huge
American funds paid to Saudi-Arabia by American oil inter-
ests, and February may, as a result, become the month of
decision for Israel.
Conversion of the issue into a public debate is creating
greater optimism in Israel's ranks. The feeling is that if the
American people become aware of the facts, public opinion
will demand fair play and the prevention of injustice to Israel.
Simultaneous with statements by both President Eisen-
hower and Secretary of State Dulles, at press conferences,
calling for a ban on discussion of the Middle East issues in
the forthcoming campaign, the Dorothy Thompson-sponsored
American Friends of the Middle East inserted advertisements
in leading American newspapers charging a Zionist conspiracy
to influence American policy with their votes.
The injection of the "dual allegiance" charges in Ameri-
can political affairs was countered last week by Democratic
leaders. Repudiating the call for a bipartisan agreement to
keep the Arab-Israel issue out of domestic politics, prominent
Democrats said that the Israel arms issue and related subjects
are legitimate subjects for debate. Displeasure was indicated
with the State Department's "failure" in the face of the
Egyptian-Czech arms deal and the growing Middle East crisis.
Senator Herbert H. Lehman was among those who served
notice that they will oppose Mr. Dulles' suggestion to avoid
debate on the issue. Declaring that American policy in the
Middle East must be debated and criticized, Senator Lehman
said: "If ever there was a policy which needed to be examined
and re-examined and debated, it is the Administration's course
of action in the Middle East. I really don't think it amounts
to a policy." Lehman charged that the Administration's action
has been founded on "fallacious assumptions and naive con-
cepts of strategy," and he added that the U.S. must not allow
the balance of power to be upset in the Middle East or the
territorial integrity of Israel to be sacrificed.
Senators Hubert Humphrey (D., Minn.) and Wayne Morse
(D., Ore.), both members of the Foreign Relations Committee,
also disagreed with Secretary Dulles' proposal and. said they
would refuse to consent to "exempt" the Arab-Israel dispute
from 1956 campaign debates.
The New York. Times published a dispatch, on Jan. 27,
from Cairo, by Osgood Caruthers, revealing that Saudi-
Arabia was using large funds, received from oil companies,
to foment anti-Western feeling in the Middle East. On Jan.
28, the Times received a denial from the Saudi-Arabian
Embassy in Washington. The telegram said that "the pri-
mary cause of trouble in the Middle East is Britain's im-
perialist policy." It charged the Times with conducting a
campaign against Saudi-Arabia.
Congressman Emanuel Celler criticized Mr. Dulles' re-
quest, called the Arab-Israel issue a legitimate question for
debate and said "constructive criticism is not inconsistent with
a bipartisan policy. A bipartisan policy does not mean that the
loyal opposition sits back, hand tied and tongue tied, when in
its honest opinion it sees mistake after mistake being made."
The New York Post, in an editorial entitled "The Strategy
of Blackmail," rejects the call for the banning of discussion
on the Middle East issue. "Translated into less lofty language,"
the editorial declares, "this means Americans should write a
blank check for the State Department and question the pa-
triotism of anyone who disputes the wisdom of the Depart-
ment's Middle Eastern policy, whatever it may be on any
given day."
Rejecting the Dorothy Thompson group's view "that a
Zionist conspiracy dominates American policy and that the
Continued on Page 24
of Jewish Events
Michigan's Only English-Jewish Newspaper, Incorporating The Jewish Chronicle
VOL. 28 — No. 22
17100 W. 7 Mile Rd., Detroit 4W1*,.. 27 February 3, 1956
Elements Stacked
gainst Israel in
Frantic Arms Plea
Israel's frantic appeals for arms, to balance the 'mounting dangers in the
Middle East created by the flow of ammunition into Egypt from Communist
countries, this week developed into a new and more serious struggle between
the contending elements. The cards appear to be stacked against Israel.
While Israel's Ambassador Abba Eban renewed his request for arms from
both the United States and Great Bri taro. Arabs pressed the charge that
Zionists were using political "pressure and intimidation" to secure help.
The communique issued after the Eisenhower-Eden conference in Wash-
ington, on Wednesday, called upon Israel and the Arabs "to reconcile their
positions," and declared the 1950 Tripartite Declaration will be invoked -to help
solve the problem. It was said in authoritative sources that there is being con-
sidered the possibility of the American 6th Fleet being sent to the Middle East
in the event of an outbreak of hostilities. There is also under discussion the
settling up of a United Nations military force to patrol the area.
Governor G. Mennen Williams of Michigan, speaking at the National Press
Club, in Washington, Tuesday, called for the granting of American defensive arms
to Israel to maintain a balance of military power in the Middle East. He said the
fundamental problem is lack of a positive AMerican policy in that area.
On the other hand, Senator Thom as Francis Green (D., R. I.). a member
of the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, spoke against U. S. military assist-
ance and a bilateral security treaty for Israel. In a report on the study mission in
the Middle East, he said the United States must avoid a situation of becoming
identified as pro-Israel while the Soviets become identified as pro-Arab. He said
the ultimate solution.to the Israel-Arab problem lies with the parties themselves,
with the assistance of the United Nations. He admitted that the Egyptian arms
deal with _Czechoslovakia increases the possibility of war between the Arab
states and Israel and predicted that this possibility will tend to increase as
Egyptians feel stronger and Israelis feel their military superiority diminishing.
Congressman John D. Dingell, of Michigan, was one of a group of Demo-
cratic members of Congress who indicated they are not inclined to accept Secre-
tary of State John F. Dulles' proposal to exempt Arab-Israel issues from discus-
sion until after the Presidential election. Rep. Dingell said Arab countries must be
given "immediate instruction that unless they cease accepting Russian arms at
once and notify the United States of their intention to do so, that within 48 hours
we will take the necessary steps to protect not only the interests of America and
the free world but of Israel, by providing Israel with such offensive and defensive
arms as we might deem necessary for Israel's defense."
A plea that Mr. Dulles should reject as "appeasement" any proposals that
Israel cede territory in favor of the Arab nations was made Tuesday by the
Czechoslovak National Council of America. Suggesting that Sir Anthony Eden
will make such a proposal, A. J. Valuchel, vice-president of the Czechoslovak
Council, called it a "dangerous and futile scheme which can only result in en-
couraging Arab states to increase their 'demands on Israel." "Moreover," he
declared in his wire to Mr. Dulles, "it bears a frightening parallel to events
which preCeded the tragic betrayal of democratic Czechoslovakia in 1938. That
sacrifice proved once and for all that appeasement is no solution in international
relations. It did not work in Europe in 1938; it will not work in the Middle. East
in 1956." He said members of the Czechoslovak Council, "sobered by memories of
our fathers' beloved homeland," could not stand idly by and watch Israel "be of-
fered up as ransom for Arab favor."
Speaking before the Women's National Democratic Club in Washington,
Monday, Ambassador Eban appealed to President Eisenhower and Prime Minis-
ter Eden to "rise to the level of their inescapable moral duty" to make it possible
for Israel to have arms for self-defense.
.Syria Consents 4o Join in liteduteing Tensions
(Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News)
JERUSALEM—United Nations headquarters here announced that
Syria had agreed to participate in negotiations designed by Maj. Gen.
E. L. M. Burns, UN Truce Supervisor, to reduce tensions along the
Israel-Syrian border. UN headquarters, however, refused to comment
on such details as time and place of talks, and whether Syria had
agreed to an exchange of prisoners with Israel. Gen. Burns left for
Damascus Tuesday to continue preparations for talks. Truce headquar-
ters revealed that marking of the border between Israel and Egypt,
in the Nitzana-E1 Auja area, was to begin on Thursday,
(A JTA report from the United Nations states: Secretary-General
Dag Hammarskjold has obtained pledges from the leaders of all the
Arab states which he visited last week, as well as from Israel where
he conferred with the Jewish government leaders, that they will
"abstain from any acts of hostility or aggressions and, above all, to
settle conflicts, when they arise, by peaceful means." This assurance
by the United Nations secretary-general was issued in a summary of
his accomplishments during the Middle East part of his tour
to 17 countries.)