Bonn's Yielding to Blackmail Brings Worldwide
Shower of Condemnation on Erhard Government

(Continued from Page 1)
or monetary substitute alone can
exempt Germany from this duty.
We shall accept no compensation
in return for the cancelation of
the promised security aid."
In his hard-hitting address, re-
calling Germany's "moral duty" to
Israel, and pointing out that Israel
had already geared, its defense
posture to the expectation that
Germany would honor an agree-
ment made on its behalf in 1960
by former Chancellor Konrad
Adenauer, Eshkol told the Knes-
set:
"It is Germany's primary moral
duty t)) make every possible con-
tribution to the strengthening of
Israel, and she must not on any
account be led into any action
whatsoever that is liable to weaken
Israel's security.
"The whole of civilized human-
ity rightly tends to judge and
evaluate the extent to which Ger-
many has liberated herself from
the burden of the past by her ac-
tions in the sphere of relations
with Israel and the Jewish people.
It is also natural to regard Ger-
many's policy towards Israel as
the touchstone for her aspiration
to find her place in the family of
nations as a factor for world peace
and stability."
From Israel's point of view, con-
tinned Eshkol, Bonn's decision
is doubly grave, both because of
its results and the fact that it con-
stituted "surrender to blackmail."
"Blackmail." he noted, "leads to
further blackmail." He tore apart
Germany's thesis of ending the
shipment of arms to "areas of
tension," pointing out that Ger-
many itself lies in such an area.
"Moreover," he held, "it is not a
question of an objective state of
tension between the two parties,
but of threats and preparation for
aggression against Israel by the
Arab states."
Israel's cabinet decided to re-
ject any offers West Germany
may make for financial compensa-
tion in lieu of carrying out its
earlier agreement to ship arms to
yael.
Following a series of lengthy
talks between Prime Minister Esh-
kol, Foreign Minister Golda Meir,
Deputy Defense Minister Shimon
Peres and Ambassador Felix E.
Shinnar, Israel's envoy to Ger-
many. in charge of the purchasing
mission at Cologne, the Cabinet
devoted its weekly meeting en-
tirely to the West German govern-
ment's announcement that it has
halted arms shipments to Israel,
in response to pressures from
Egypt's President Gamal Abdel
Nasser.
In editorial reaction to the Bonn
to terminate arms ship-
ments to Israel, most of the Israeli
newspapers stressed the gravity of
the development and scored the
West German move in bowing to
Egyptian blackmail.
Bonn Shocked; Ulbricht
Launches Attack on Israel

(Direct JTA Teletype Wire to
The Jewish News)

BONN—The West German gov-
ernment was reported Tuesday to
have been shocked by the negative
worldwide reaction to West Ger-
many's suspension of arms deliv-
eries to Israel under Egyptian
pressure to recognize Communist
East Germany.
West German officials were dis-
turbed by Israel's refusal to accept .
economic reparations of any kind
in lieu of the canceled arms ship-.
ment.
Parliamentary groups of the
three parties in the Bundestag,
West Germany's lower house —
Chancellor Ludwig Erhard's Chris-
tian Democrats, the Social Demo-
crats and the Free Democrats —

THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
32—Friday, February 19, 1965

million-dollar shirt manufacturers
in New York announced that they
have canceled orders with sup-
pliers in West Germany in protest
against the Bonn government's
decision to halt arms shipments to
Israel under pressure from Egyp-
tian President Gamal Abdel Nas-
ser. The firms are the Phillips-
Van Heusen Corp. and Philip
Rothenberg & Co.
Lawrence Phillips, executive
vice-president of Phillips-Van Heu-
sen, said his firm, which does an
annual business of - $83,000,000, has
canceled all outstanding orders for
West German piece goods, finish-
ed goods and machinery. Harvey
Rothenberg, president of the other
firm, said his company has can-
celed orders it had placed with
two West German firms for $50,000
worth of cotton flannels, and is
also "reviewing machinery com-
mitments." Both industrialists at-
tributed their actions to the Bonn
submission to Nasser "blackmail."
Rothenberg added that other lead-
ing American apparel makers
"would begin to review their rela-
tions with West German suppli-
ers." "I already have indications,"
he added, "that such action - is
under way."
Michael Daroff, president of
Botany Industries, a diversified
group of textile and clothing
concerns, ordered his buyers who
are about to leave European
shopping tours to take. West Ger-
many off their list of countries
to be visited. The plan to buy
Pfaff sewing machines from Ger-
many is being abandoned by this
group.
Jacob S. Potofsky, president of
the Amalgamated Clothing work-
ers of America, has issued an ap-
peal to West German workers to
intercede with their government to
reverse the decision not to provide
Israel with. arms.
The New York Board of Rabbis
sent a letter to West German
Ambassador Heinrich Knappstein
Wednesday expressing "s hock
and chagrin" at the surrender of
the Bonn government to Egypt,
ian blackmail.
The board "urgently" appealed
to the German government to "Re-
affirm its determination to keep
faith with the State of Israel and
with its own new-born conscience
by redeeming its obligations and
responsibilities and by continuing
its policy of mutual friendship and
support."
Dr. Max Nussbaum, president of
the Zionist Organization of Ameri-
ca, and Rabbi Arthur Herzberg,
chairman of the ZOA's public af-
i fairs committee, roundly condemn-
. ed the West German decision.
Dr. Nussbaum, in a message to
a briefing conference marking the
ZOA's support of the International
Cooperation Program of the Unit-
ed Nations, declared the Bonn ac-
tion marked "a surrender to Nas-
ser's blackmail." Rabbi Herzberg,
who addressed the meeting, attend-
ed by several hundred. Zionists,
said that the Bonn action aggra-
vates the situation in the Middle
East. and called on the United
States .government "to weigh all
the implications."
The chairman of the Conference
of Presidents of Jewish Organiza-
tions charged that West Germany's
action "endangered Israel's securi-
ty and jeopardized the fragile bal-
Leaders of the Zionist Council of Detroit and the Jewish Com-
ance that has deterred Arab ag
munity Council Wednesday expressed their protests against the latest
gression in the Middle East."
Bonn action canceling agreements to supply Israel with protective
Speaking on behalf of the 20
arms.
national Jewish religious and lay
"Far more than specific military aid is at stake," Sidney Shevitz,
groups that make up the Presi-
Jewish Community Council president, stated in hiS message to the
dent's Conference, Dr. Joachim
German Ambassador. "Survivors of Hitler's holocaust who have found
Prinz voiced "anguish and bitter
a haven in Israel, and the world which witnessed atrocities without
disappointment" at the German
precedent, have the right to expect the vigorous moral redemption to
action. "It is apparent that the
which the New Germany has pledged itself."
Bonn regime surrendered to Pre-
Stating that "as Americans deeply concerned with the peace of sident Nasser's blackmail threat to
recognize East Germany," he said.
their country" the members of the 340 Council affiliated organizations
"In so doing, the German govern-
viewed with apprehension the "unbecoming surrender to bellicose
ment abandoned the grave burden
international blackmail," Sheiitz stressed the obligation of the "New
it carries for the life and liberty
Germany" to "history and justice."

met to discuss the 1..V • le East
crisis.
East German Communist head
of state Walter Ulbricht attack-
ed Israel and West German aid
to Israel in a speech in which
he said he was proud of his
scheduled visit to Cairo on Feb.
24. It was the invitation by Pre-
sident Nasser to Ulbricht which
touched off the crisis in West
German - Egyptian relations
which was resolved by Bonn's
agreement to cancel the remain-
ing arms shipments to Israel:
State Secretary Gunther von
Hase, the West Germ a n press
spokesman, confirmed that Spain
and "other friendly nations" were
mediating with the government of
Egypt in search of a solution to
the West German-Egyptian dead-
lock over the visit to Cairo of Com-
munist leader Ulbricht.
He • made the statement amid
growing fear that Egyptian pres-
sure on the West German govern-
ment, linking the invitation to Ul-
bricht with West German military
and other aid to Israel, was having
the effect that both the govern-
ment and West German political
parties were moving toward a posi-
tion of favoring an end to military
aid to Israel.
Von Hase told the news confer-
ence that Ambassador Georg Fed-
erer. the Bonn envoy to Egypt,
who was called home for consulta-
tions over the Ulbricht invitation,
would remain in Bonn for the
time being. He also disclosed that
the West German government dis-
cussed Middle East problems brief-
ly.
Eait German Communist offi-
cials opened a sharp campaign
against Israel and West Germany.
The statement was in the form
of an article by Guenther Kers-
cher, assistant editor of the East
German Communist daily, Neves
Deutschland. The article called
the Israel reparations agreement,
of 1952, "help to the imperialist
stronghold in the Middle East."
Records indicated that Kerscher
joined the Nazi party in 1937.
Former Chancellor Konrad
Adenauer, surprised members of
his own party—the Christian
Democratic Party—by denying
that, in 1960, he had worked out
with Israel's Premier David
Ben-Gurion an agreement to pro-
vide military aid to Israel. Ad-
dressing the Christian Democra-
tic members of the West German
Parliament, Dr. Adenauer said
that such an agreement was con-
cluded by him two years later,
"owing to mediation of friendly
nations."
Suspension of the arms deliveries
was criticized by Fritz Erler, Social
Democratic leader, at a meeting of
his parliamentary group. He also
condemned the government's Mid-
dle East policy. He described the
halting of the arms shipments as
a case of leaving one hole wide
open while filling another.

An official denial that West
Germany had promised Egypt
that it would not establish diplo-
matic relations with Israel was
made during the parlimentary
question hour Wednesday.
Answering a query from the op-
position Social Democrats, State
Secretary Karl Carstens of the
foreign office said that the Marquis
de Nerva, the Spanish mediator
in the West German-Egyptian dis-
pute, had told him he had made
no such assurance to the Nasser
government: Nervas' mediation led
to the West German decision to
cancel remaining arms shipments
to Israel in return for an Egyptian
pledge not to recognize Communist
East Germany.
`Stiff Price' Exacted
by Nasser from Germany
LONDON (JTA) — Egypt's Pre-
sident Gamal Abdel Nasser exact-
ed a stiff price for agreeing with
West Germany's demand that Cairo
would not . recognize Communist
East Germany, Cairo dispatches
revealed. Among the items agreed
to by Bonn, the Cairo reports stat-
ed, were these:
1. Germany would halt further
shipments of arms to Israel. 2.
West Germany would build five
nuclear reactors for Nasser; 3.
Bonn would
f
meeting between Chancellor Lud-
wig Erhard and Israel Prime Min-
ister Levi Eshkol; 4. Germany
would refrain from extending full
diplomatic relations with Israel
"in the near future."
The one concession made by
Nasser. it was said here, was an
agreement to overlook West Ger-
many's possible renewal of its 1952
reparations agreement with Israel,
which is due to expire March 31.
Ben-Gurion Confirms Arms
Pact with Adenauer in 1960
TEL AVIV (JTA) — Former
Premier David Ben-Gurion con-
firmed here that in 1960. he and
the then-West German Chancellor
Dr. Konrad Adenauer. entered an
agreement at a meeting in New
York for West German military
aid to Israel. Until now. that pact
had been the object of merely un
official reports.
Addressing a meeting of the
Foreign Press Association here,
Ben-Gurion not only confirmed
that unofficial report but also in-
sisted that "it still stands." He
pleaded for greater understanding
of the present West German gov-
ernment under Chancellor Ludwig
Erhard, saying Erhard "is not a
Nazi, and the present generation
(of Germany) is not Nazi." He
told the correspondents also that,
if the Arabs carry out their pres-
ent intention to divert the Jtead-
waters of the Jordan River, "there
should be a reaction on the part of
Israel," and affirmed he was "con-
vinced" the United States would
help safeguard Israel's security.
Two American Firms
Cancel Orders for Goods
From West Germany
NEW YORK (JTA)—Two multi-

Detroit Expresses Resentment
Against Latest German Action

I

of those Jews who managed to out-
live Hitler, and for the country of
Israel which was established to
give them haven."
Dr. Prinz, president of the Amer-
ican Jewish Congress, assumed of-
fice Monday as chairman of the
President's Conference.
British Jews Denounce
West. German Action
LONDON (JTA) — The Board
of Deputies of British Jews de-
nounced the suspension of arms
shipments by • West Germany to
Israel, and urged the West Ger-
man government not to succumb
to Arab blackmail.
The Board said, in its statement,
that Jews could never forget the
slaughter of 6,000,000 of their
people by the Nazis, and that West
Germany bore a heavy burden of
responsibility before civilized man-
kind. The attitude of Jews every-
where toward the present West
German government, the,_ Board
stated, would be determined by
its actions.
Concern Over Bonn Action
Expressed in Toronto, Berne

(Direct JTA Teletype Wire to
The Jewish News)

TORONTO—A delegation repre-
senting the 105,000 Jews of Ontario
met Tuesday with the consul gen-
eral of West Germany to transmit
an urgent appeal that West Ger-
many extended the statute of lim-
itations for the prosecution of
Nazi war criminals beyond its pre-
sent effective date of May 8.
BERNE—The deep concern of
Swiss Jewry over West German
policy toward Israel, particularly
over the Bonn suspension of arms
shipments, was conveyed to the
West German ambassador here
Wednesday by George Brunschvig,
president of the Jewish Communi-
1 ties of Switzerland.

Cut-Off Extension
Eyed in Bundestag

BONN (JTA) -- Sentiment in
West Germany's parliament ap-
peared to have solidified in favor
of extending for ten `years the ef-
fective date of the statute of limi-
tations for prosecution of Nazi war
criminals on murder charges.
First steps toward postponement
of the effective date of the statute
beyond May 8, when it is schedul-
ed to become effective, were taken
in the Bundestag, the parliament's
upper house, at the same time that
Chancellor Ludwig Erhard was re-
iterating his belief that the statute
should be extended. - The Bunde-
stag voted to decide on the matter
on March 12.
Wilson Asked in Commons
to Act on 'Limitations'
LONDON (JTA)—Prime Minis-
ter Harold Wilson was asked in
the House of Commons whether
he could discuss with West Ger-
man Chancellor Ludwig Erhard
the German government's plan to
allow the gtatute of limitations on
prosecution of Nazi war criminals
to take effect on May 8. The ques-
tion was asked by a member of his
own Labor Party, Mrs. R. Short.
Do you think," she asked, "that,
when you meet the chancellor
shortly, you could remind him of
the worldwide concern regarding
these proposals?"
The premier, non-committal ea
whether he would put the question
to Chancellor Erhard, recalled that
West Germany has asked all gov-
ernments to bring forth any evi-
dence in hand regarding war
crimes. Noting that the German
statute of limitations is to expire
soon, he said: "It has been indi-
cated that, if evidence was pro,
duced, it might be necessary to
extend this period."

-

.

Dr. Eugen Gerstenmair, presi-
dent of the I3undestag, confirmed
a— report that Chancellor Erhard
had ordered a temporary halt in
arms shipments to Israel.