Plead for Anti-Boycott Law at Senate Hearing
WASHINGTON (JTA)—Representatives of several Ameri-
can companies — small, medium and large, reiterated this
week their support for legislation to curb Arab boycott pres-
sures against American firms.
Their statements were
made in hearings before the that several other countries, in-
Senate Banking and Currency cluding Italy and England, have
Committee on the Williams- taken steps to prevent cooperation
the Arab boycott, and Holland
Javits Bill. which would for- with
about to take up legislation
bid American companies from was
in the same vein.
filling out auestionnaires sub-
Weinstein, vice president
mitted to them by the Arab of Aaron
Block Drug Co. of Jersey City,
boycott office in Damascus.
N.J., testified that his company in
In the Banking and Currency
Committee of the House of Repre-
sentatives, which last week com-
pleted hearings on the bill, a 14-11
majority Tuesday sustained a
weakened version of the bill as
adopted in its International Trade
subcommittee and rejected efforts
to restore the original mandatory
wording of the bill.
The bill as approved by the full
House committee retains the con-
gressional opposition to the boy-
cott but leaves it to presidential
discretion whether - to issue regu-
lations to put this • congressional
opposition into effect.
In the Senate Banking Commit-
tee hearings Tuesday, Rep. Paul
Krebs, New Jersey Democrat, one
of the sponsors of the bill, rejected
administration arguments that the
proposed legislation could be in-
terpreted as an unfriendly act to-
ward the Arabs.
Stressing that the bill's aim is to
protect the American businessman,
Rep. Krebs also questioned the
argument that the Arab boycott
was not effective anyway. "The
fact that a blackmail is conducted
in a sloppy way is no reason to
submit to it," he asserted.
During the questioning of wit-
nesses, members of the Senate com-
mittee indicated their suspicion
that oil company interests were
behind the State Department's
vehement opposition to the anti-
boycott legislation.
Sen. William Proxmire, Wiscon-
sin Democrat, declared that there
must be some economic force be-
hind the State Department opposi-
tion and noted that the oil com-
panies have considerable influence
in both the State and the Corn-
merce departments.
Sen. Harrison Williams, New
Jersey Democrat, one of the two
originators of the bill, remarked
that indeed the oil companies
could have come before the com-
mittee to testify, but none of
them asked to be heard. Replied
Sen. Proxmire: "Not if the State
Department is doing it for them."
Another witness, E d w a r d L.
Dreyer, head of Adams Carbide of
New Jersey. expressed the opinion
that the oil companies did not
come to testify because they are
big enough to stand up to the Arabs
and therefore can do business both
in Israel and the Arab countries.
The proposed legislation would
provide equal protection to all
American firms, Dreyer pointed
out.
Maxwell Rabb, president, and
Parke Masters, director of the
American Israel Chamber of Com-
merce, in their -testimony rejected
the arguments that should all
American firms be forbidden to fill
out boycott questionnaires, the
Arab countries would retaliate by
boycotting all American business.
They also told the committee
doing business with Arab coun-
tries, was compelled to sign certifi-
cates stating that no Israel ma-
terials were involved in the prod-
ucts of his firm.
He noted that by signing such
certificates, American firms "liter-
ally become an accessory" to the
economic warfare of one foreign
country against another.
Eva Bramlette, co-owner of a
Dallas, Texas, import firm, told
the committee of the warning let-
ter she .received from the Arab
League after it became known that
she was importing dresses and
other merchandise from Israel. She
urged the committee to approve
legislation which would protect her
and other small American busi-
nesses from such boycott harass-
ments.
Undersecretary of State George
Ball and Secretary of Commerce
John T. Connor told the Senate
committee Monday that while
the Arab boycott is looked upon
by the administration with re-
- sentment, it nevertheless firmly
opposes the bill now before the
Senate.
Undersecretary Ball c o n c e n-
trated practically all his arguments
to convince the committee that the
proposed legislation would gravely
hurt administration policies.
Under questioning, Ball asserted
that firms that cooperate with the
Arab boycott are in a better posi-
tion "to work out a solution" to
their blacklisting problems than
firms that refuse to cooperate with
the boycott office. Asked whether
the weakened version adopted by
the House International Trade sub-
committee would be acceptable to
the State Department, Ball replied:
"Quite frankly, I myself would not
know what the Department of Com-
merce (which would have to act
for the President) could do. Very
little, I think."
Secretary of Commerce Connor
asserted in his testimony that
should the law prohibit American
firms from -responding to boycott
office questionnaires, American
business would be subjected to
more serious prohibitions on the
part of the Arabs.
He claimed that while it may be
assumed that the 150 American
firms that are now on the Arab
blacklist were interested in the
proposed legislation, firms that
now choose to trade with the Arabs
to the exclusion of Israel were not
interested in such legislation. Both
the secretary of commerce and the
undersecretary of state before him
asserted that the boycott has only
a "marginal" effect on Israel.
Sen. Williams declared that it
is highly inconsistent of the ad-
ministration to declare itself
opposed to the Arab boycott but
at the same time oppose effec-
tive measures against it. He re-
jected the argument that the bill
would affect American embargo
on trade with Cuba, noting that
the bill specifically refers to
boycotts against nations friendly
to the United States.
Referring to administration
arguments that the boycott can
best be handled by the administra-
tion on a case-to-case basis, Sen.
Williams noted that he himself and
the other 30 Senators who co-spon-
sored the proposed bill believe
that "neither the State nor the
Commerce departments have effec-
tively dealt with this problem nor
efficiently protected the American
businessman."
The grave warnings of possible
Arab reaction to an anti-boycott
bill were rediculed by Sen. Prox-
mire in his questioning of admin-
istration witnesses. "I find it hard
to believe that a country as power-
ful as the United States would be
seriously affected by A r ab. at-
tempts to put all American firms
on a blacklist. This seems to be
most ridiculous," Sen. Proxmire
declared.
Sen. Edmund Muskie, Maine
Democrat, asked the State Depart-
ment to submit documentation to
show what help the department
provides to businessmen who were
affected by the Arab boycott.
The first public witness in sup-
port of the bill was Irving J. Fain,
chairman of Apex Rubber and Tire
Co. of Rhode Island, who appeared
on behalf of the American Israel
Public Affairs Committee. His
testimony was so impressive that
members of the committee, who re-
ceived a copy of his statement in
advance, took the unusual step of
asking administration witnesses to
reply to Fain's arguments even be-
fore Fain testified, and later when
some of his argument was coun-
tered by administration witnesses,
Fain was asked by the members of
the committee to reply to those
counter-arguments.
Fain, who also testified before
the House subcommittee last
week, rejected the argument that
the Arab boycott is not effective,
noting that administration sta-
tistics showing the expansion of
Israel's trade do not show the
deterrent effect of the boycott
on the American business com-
munity.
Fain also stressed the difference
between the nature of the Arab
boycott measures and the Ameri-
can policy of economic denial
against Cuba and noted that the
administration itself, in several
cases concerning other friendly
nations, instructed American com-
panies not to provide documents
requested from abroad.
The witness disclosed that last
March some American firms had
to provide certificates that the
goods shipped to Arab countries
do not originate not only in Israel
but even in West Germany. He
pointed out that if left unchal-
lenged, the Arab boycott would set
a precedent involving the United
States in all the economic warfare
activities between other countries.
Bourguiba Calls Arab
Aggressions 'Doomed'
LONDON (JTA) — President
Habib Bourguiba of Tunisia de-
clared in Tunis that "Arab ven-
tures against Israel are doomed
to failure," according to press re-
ports received here. He added that
"Tunisia will have no part of
them."
In an interview taped in Tunis
and broadcast Sunday from Wash-
ington by CBS-TV, Bourguiba as-
serted that his proposal for a peace-
ful solution of the Arab-Israel con-
flict has been received favorably
in many countries of North Africa
and the Middle East. He said his
voicing of a suggestion for Arab-
Israeli peace talks "has permitted
many people who used to be ter-
rorized and felt completely inhib-
ited to express their real views."
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