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.