•
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Many Flies in
Middle East
Ointment:
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Israel's Role
in New Crisis
E JEWISH
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VOLUME XXXI I I—No. 21
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Editorials
Page 4
h Events
e Detroit Jewish Chronicle
.1 35, July 25, 1958
$5.00 Per Year; Single Copy 15c
en-Gurio: o ees Israel's
Duty to Incrase Strength;
U.S. Arms Asked by Eban
WASHINGTON, (JTA) — Israel Ambassador Abba Eban held a
comprehensive review of Middle Eastern developments with Secretary
of State John Foster Dulles. The meeting covered the situation in such
depth that it lasted an hour and a half.
The time spent was considered significant in view of Dulles'
crowded crisis schedule. It is believed that Eban told Dulles of Israel's
desire for modern heavy weapons for defense, in view of increasing
United Arab Republic aggressiveness in the region.
The Ambassador said he spent only 30 hours in Israel on what
had been planned as a two-month stay. He explained that Prime Min-
ister David Ben-Gurion and Foreign Minister Golda Meir thought that,
in view of the "very. important events" in the Middle East, he should
be at his post and hold exchanges immediately with Dulles. The ex-
change, said Eban, was on topics of concern to all countries, particu-
larly countries in the Middle East.
JERUSALEM, (JTA) — Israel's duty is to strengthen its power
to counter the increasing Nasserist danger, Prime Minister David Ben-
Gurion told the Knesset. The government is doing all it can along.
those lines, the Premier added.
Ben-Gurion made his statement in responding to two motions for
a full-scale parliamentary debate on the Middle East situation. The
motions, by the Herut •Party and by the Communists, were defeated.
The Prime Minister described the events in Iraq as posing "un-
doubtedly the gravest danger since our War of Liberation (in 1948)."
He warned: "The danger of encirclement by Nasser is growing, and
it is our duty to do all we can to obviate this danger. But this does not
depend on us alone." The world situation, he stated, is becoming more
and more complicated and the situation in the Middle East is becoming
"more dangerous." "Therefore," he said, "Israel must concentrate its
efforts to increase its strength."
Tunis Issue Warnings Against
Israel. Must Resort to Her Own Iraq,
Zionism: 5,000 Jews Remain in Iraq
Resources for State's Defense
Direct JTA Teletype Wire to The Jewish News
By PHILIP SLOMOVITZ
Jewish News Correspondent at the UN
UNITED NATIONS—Small nations participated in the discussions
on the Middle East, but the frustrating debates that marked one of the
most serious crises in modern times are proving again that whatever
decisions will be made to affect future international relations will be
framed by the handful of great powers.
Israel is seldom mentioned in the debates—thus far. Only by innu-
endo is the Jewish State referred to. Members of Israel's delegation to
the United Nations are not seen or heard from. They keep in the back-
ground. The feeling is that as long as there are U.S. and British troops
in Lebanon and Jordan, Israel will not become involved in the Middle
East crisis.
But there are occasional "veiled threats." The delegate-designate to
the UN from Iraq, Hashin Jawad, said in the TV interview that "the
Palestine problem" must be solved by the UN. But Iraq, the only Arab
state that had failed to sign a truce with Israel after the Israel War
of Liberation in 1948, has never refrained from spreading propaganda
against Israel and has led in the attacks on Israel in the UN and wher-
ever capital could be made against Israel.
The question that is not posed but is in everyone's thoughts is:
will the UN, or the U.S., or Great Britain, come to Israel's defense, in
the event of renewed threats to Israel's security—as the world's powers
have come to the aid of Lebanon and Jordan?
A ludicrous element in the present crisis is the frequent reference
Continued on Page 32
An official of the Iraq Embassy here, which has pledged
LONDON
loyalty to the new military regime in Baghdad, announced Tuesday that Jew-
ish citizens of Iraq had no reason to fear the new regime "provided they have
no connection with Israel or Zionism."
The statement by Col. Faik, chief of the embassy, followed a conference
with Harry Goodman, leader of the Agud as Israel in England, on the condi-
tion of Iraqi Jews under the new regime.
"Iraqi Jews are Iraqi citizens," the statement declared. "Any Jews who
are in possession of Iraqi citizenship will come to no harm under the new re-
gime—as under the previous regime—provided they have no connection with
Israel or Zionism."
It was reported that Goodman hoped to visit Iraq soon to learn at first
hand the condition of the Jewish community there.
—
Tunisian Minister Pledges Free Emigration
PARIS, (JTA) — The Tunisian Secretary of State for Justice warned the
Tunisian Jews against "Zionist tendencies," threatened to expel any Jews who
have relations with Zionist organizations, and pledged that the Tunisian gov-
ernment would allow Jews who desired to leave for Israel or elsewhere.
The secretary, Ahmed Mestiri, was quoted in an interview with Le Monde,
one of the leading French newspapers. M. Mestiri was interviewed in the pres-
ence of Andre Barouch, Secretary of State for Public Works and a Jew; Ahmed
Continued on Page 32
American Aid Bolstered Iraq's. Anti-American Regime
BY MILTON FRIEDMAN
(Copyright, 1958, Jewish Telegraphic Agency, Inc.)
WASHINGTON — Iraq's new anti-American
regime is equipped with the latest American tanks
and guns because the State Department failed to
heed warnings by Zionists and others.
Iraq received $50,000,000 in U.S. arms abso-
lutely free. U.S. Army instructors trained the Iraqis
in the use of these weapons. The State Department
praised Iraq for accepting such assistance.
Public reaction to Secretary of State Dulles'
decision to give arms to Iraq was unfavorable, not
only because of fear that the arms might be used
against Israel but also because of the political in-
stability in the Arab world and the need for ec-
onomic rather than military aid.
More than 40 members of Congress protested the
shipment of arms to Iraq. On March, 19, 1954, they
appealed in vain to State Department officials.
Israelis cautioned the State Department that
shipment of U.S. arms to the Arabs was a precarious
business, like signing a blank check. Israelis pointed
to the instability of Arab regimes and stressed that
arms shipped to a "friendly" Arab administration
might be easily taken over by a successor regime,
hostile to America. But the State Department
termed Israel "hypersensitive" and concerned only
with its own safety.
Prophetic words came from the American Associ-
ation for the United Nations. This group called the
supply of arms to Iraq "ill-advised and dangerous."
In 1954, House Majority Leader McCormack,
Massachusetts Democrat, spoke out against the trust
placed by the State Department in Iraq.
When the 1954 Congressional elections took place
the American 2-4ionist Committee for Public Affairs
elicited the view of ndidates on the Iraqi arms
issue. More than 350 n 'nees came out against the
q. Bitter criticism was
shipment of weapons t'
American .Council for
aimed at Zionists by
Judaism and the so-called American Friends of the
Middle East, both anti-Israel front groups. Zionists
Were called "un-American" for raising the Iraqi
arms question.
At the time of the arms controversy, Iraq em-
barked on propaganda urging the United States Gov-
ernment to adopt domestic anti-Jewish policies.
Iraqi Ambassadoi Moussa al-Shabandar, in a Wash-
ington public address, gfi lit to engender suspicions
regarding the loyalty o_ An ∎ iTican. Jewry. A similar
address was made previously by Charge d'Affaires
Abdullah Ibrahim Bakr of the 'Iraqi Embassy. The
Bakr speech, however, was not delivered personally.
It was read on the Iraqi's behalf by Edwin M.
Wright, then State Department officer in charge of
Turkish affairs.
Considering Iraq a "bastion of democracy" in the
Middle East, the State Department turned a -Ndeaf
ear to Jewish protests against Iraqi persecution of
Jews.
Edward S. Crocker, at one time U.S. Ambassador
to Iraq, went so far as to say that he personally
regarded it unfortunate for America that the Arabs
failed to defeat Israel in 1948. When Crocker was
Ambassador in Baghdad the State Department de-
nied that Iraq was persecuting its Jewish inhabi-
tants. Correspondents .were told to refrain from
writing such reports because it might antagonize
America's reliable ally.
The truth is that Iraq did more than any other
Arab state to aid the Nazis, to harrass its Jewish
inhabitants, and to avoid an armistice with Israel.
The officer clique now in command is headed by
Gen. Kassim who commanded Iraqi invaders in
Palestine in 1948 and actually refused to obey the
United Nations cease-fire. To this day Iraq, alone
among Arab states, has refused to sign an armistice
with Israel. A state of war is still in effect.
Of all the Arab states, Iraq was most strongly
influenced by Adolf Hitler. Nazi youth movements
thrived in Iraq. In 1941 Iraq military officers staged
a pro-Nazi revolt against the British. British in-
telligence reported that "in the Iraqi Army, Nazi
propagandists were faced with a problem of exploita-
tion rather than of conversion."
Yet this was the army selected by the State De-
partment to be given free American weapons. Sec-
retary Dulles in 1954 described the shipment of arms
to' Iraq as a contribution "to the security of the
United States and of the free world." He said "we
must make use of these historic oppOrtunities Ike
they occur."