THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
22 Friday, August 15, 1980
White House Blasts Zionism Slam by Libya in Tillygate' Uproar
WASHINGTON (JTA) —
The Libyan government's
allegation that Zionism was
responsible for the Billy
Carter case was denounced
by the White House as "an_
obvious attempt to shift the
blame to others."
The White House state-
ment said the Libyan alle-
gations were "completely
unfounded" and noted that
President Carter had in-
formed the Senate that
"many policies and actions
of the Libyan government _
are widely disapproved by
our government and the
majority of the American
people."
The response followed re-
ports from Tripoli that the
Libyan government had de-
clared that its relations
with Billy Carter were
"normal" ties of the kind
engaged in by many other
prominent American citi-
zens and institutions.
The Libyan govern-
ment attributed the Billy
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Carter controversy about
those relations to a
"Zionist" campaign
against Billy Carter and
the Libyan government.
The Tripoli statement by
the Libyan Secretary Gen-
eral for Foreign Relations,
Ahmad el-Shahati was
Libya's first formal reaction
to the Billy Carter debate.
Shahati was Billy Carter's
host for his first visit to
Libya in September 1978.
The Shahati statement
was issued through the Li-
byan Foreign Relations
Bureau and distributed by
that country's official press
agency.
Shahati said other
Americans who had visited
Libya to promote friendly
relations between the
American and Libyan
peoples based on mutual re-
spect and common inter-
ests" included J. William
Fulbright, the former
Democratic Senator; Najeeb
Halaby, former chairman of
Pan American Airways;
and Vance Hartke, former
Democratic Senator from
Indiana.
He said Libya had es-
tablished contacts or
worked out joint pro-
grams with universities
in Idaho, Washington,
Louisiana,
Georgia,
Wyoming,
Florida,
Michigan and the District
of Columbia and had "es-
tablished links with
Black American and
Black Muslim organiza-
tions, the Red Indians
National Council, the
Organizations of Arab
Descendant Americans
and other popular organ-
izations."
Meanwhile, the White
House also denied a state-
ment by Libyan leader
Muammar Qaddafi that he
was promised last De-
cember that Carter, if re-
elected, would make
Mideast policy in favor of
the Palestinians. He also
claimed in an interview
with The New York Times
in Tripoli that the White
House had shown "great
concern" in mending rela-
tions over the past six
months through the Libyan
Embassy in Washington."
He claimed that Libya's
representative in Washing-
ton initiated contacts with
Carter, National Security
Adviser Zbigniew
Brzezinski "and has been in
touch with other American
officials, calling on them
personally or by telephone,
which, of course, is perfectly
natural," the Times quoted
him as saying. But Qaddafi
added that Billy Carter had
played no role in the
dialogue.
White House press secre-
tary Jody Powell said that
no message "has been con-
veyed, directly or indirectly,
by anyone at the White
House" that Carter would
adopt a more friendly atti-
tude toward the Palesti-
nians.
Sen.
Meanwhile,
Robert Dole (R-Kan.),
who originally called for
a Senate investigation of
"Billygate" and is a
member of the Senate
Judiciary Subcommittee
scrutinizing it, described
the Libyan statements as
"obviously absurd" but
form "a commentary" on
the Carter Administra-
tion in that the Libyans
"felt" they had "an
opportunity to influence
our government"
through Billy Carter.
Qaddafi's description of
Billy Carter's services as
commercial came a week
after the businessman who
advised Billy Carter in
negotiations on a Libyan oil
deal said that the prospects
of a lucrative oil contract for
the President's brother was
proposed by Libyan political
leaders and viewed in Libya
as a political rather than a
commercial matter.
According to Jack
McGregor, described as a
long-time friend and busi-
ness adviser of Billy Carter,
the oil deal was an apparent
effort to enlist Billy's help in
promoting Libyan interests
in the United States.
"Talks about an oil deal
with Billy were handled in
Libya by political officials,"
McGregor said. "Billy never
talked to a single official
from the Libyan national oil
company" nor any Libyan
oil ministry officials.
Meanwhile, some con-
troversy has bubbled
over the note dictated by
President Carter on June
28, that appeared in his
report to the investigat-
ing U.S. Senate subcom-
mittee.
This note said "I talked to
Billy about his helping
Libya and his refusal to sign
the foreign agents permit.
He has the same lawyer
that represented Hamilton
(White House Chief of Staff
Hamilton Jordan) recently,
and doesn't believe that hei
needs
eeds to file. This can be
come an embarrassing inci-
dent later on, particularly
with American Jews."
Friends of President Car-
ter and others ridiculed the
notion that this meant the
President was thinking in
terms of the Jews being
principally upset by Billy-
gate.
ti
* * *
Arab Businessman Tried to Use
the President's Evangelist Sister
WASHINGTON — The
White House has confirmed
_that Zbigniew Brzezinski
arranged a National Sec-
irity Council briefing for
Ruth Carter Stapleton,
President Carter's sister,
shortly before she went in
January on a Middle East
tour that was financed in
part by an Arab business-
man.
Sam Bamieh, an Arab
businessman based in Palo
Alto, Calif., paid $3,000 for
Mrs. Stapleton's tour of sev-
eral Middle Eastern na-
tions. The total cost of the
trip was put at $11,000.
Following the trip,
Bamieh attempted to reach
members of the National
Security Council, including
Brzezinski, but was rebuf-
fed.
Mrs. Stapleton, accom-
panied by Mr. Bamieh
and Cliff Custer, an
evangelist from Rogue
River, Ore., and one of
Mrs. Stapleton's associ-
ates, visited Egypt, Jor-
dan, Oman and Saudi
Arabia, as well as several
European countries.
On Feb. 3, Mrs. Stapleton
was quoted in Monday
Morning, an English lan-
guage regional newspaper
in Lebanon, as saying that
she wanted to meet Yasir
Arafat, head of the Pales-
tine Liberation Organiza-
tion. She also responded af-
firmatively to a question
about whether Jimmy Car-
ter would be the "best
President to serve the Arab
cause and solve the Middle
Eastern problem," and
ended the interview by say-
ing she believed that there
would eventually be a Pa-
lestian state.
Presidential Press Secre-
tary Jody Powell said that
Mrs. Stapleton had denied
making any political state-
ments during her trip, and
added that "she felt that
Cliff Custer and Mr.
Bamieh were constantly
prodding her to make politi-
cal statements and putting
words in her mouth."
In the Monday Morning
article, Custer was quoted
as discussing what he be-
lieved was Mrs. Stapleton's
views on the Middle East.
At one point he said, "We
believe that the Zionist
press is losing its grip, and
that this is the time when
the American people want
to hear a more even-handed
message."
Romanian Chief Introduces
a Mideast Peace Initiative
JERUSALEM (JTA) —
President Nicolae
Ceausescu is planning a
new Middle East peace in-
itiative involving a meeting
between himself and Pre-
mier Menahem Begin of Is-
rael and President Anwar
Sadat of Egypt to try to un-
lock the freeze in the
Mideast peace negotiations.
Such an initiative was re-
ported from Warsaw by
Arye Zimuki, Yediot Ac-
hronot's political corre-
spondent.
Zimuki based his report
on a conversation with
Romania's Chief Rabbi, Dr.
Moses Rosen, who is in
Warsaw attending an in-
ternational convention on
the Hebrew language, the
first such convention held in
an Eastern European coun-
try. However, political cir-
cles in Jerusalem said that
they are not aware of a new
Mideast initiative by
Ceausescu.
Zimuki reported that
Ceausescu may also try to
meet with other Mideast
leaders as part of his initia-
tive. Recently, he met with
Palestine Liberation
Organization Chief Yasir
Arafat and Egyptian Secre-
tary of State for Foreign Af-
fairs Butros Ghali was in
Bucharest on Wednesday
with a personal message
from Sadat to Ceausescu
explaining Egypt's position
in the current autonomy
talks- deadlock.
According to Zimuki,
Rosen told him that the
initiative was specifically
mentioned in a meeting
last week the Romanian
president had with him
and Rabbi Arthur
Schneier, spiritual leader
of the Park East
Synagogue in New York
City and president of the
Appeal of Conscience
Foundation.
A Jewish Telegraphic
Agency report from
Bucharest last week said
the meeting, which took
place at Ceausescu's sum-
mer home near the Black
Sea, dealt with various in-
ternational problems, speci-
fically with the situation in
the Mideast. It was also re-
ported then that the talks
included plans Ceausescu
said he had for a Mideast
initiative and which would
require the support of world
Jewish organizations in
order to succeed.
in
circles
Political
Jerusalem said that the
Romanian president in the
past did raise the possibility
of exerting his influence to
keep the peace talks going,
but always emphasized that
he would not act contrary to
the Camp David peace
agreements.
`Jewish Living'
Offers Magazines
to Subscribers
NEW YORK — Jewish
living, the bi-monthly mag-
azine which stopped produr
tion after only a few issues,
is offering its subscribers,
other magazines or refundr
According to editor L.
Aryeh Rubin, increasing
costs and "unexpected and
unusual financial prob-
lems" forced the magazine
to permanently stop pub-
lishing after the April issue.
In his letter to subscrib-
ers, Rubin asked that sub-
scribers choose one of seven
magazines — Moment,
Working Woman, Museum,
Ms., Saturday Review, Pre-
sent Tense, or World Press
Review. He wrote that a re-
fund could be arranged, but
urged that an alternate
subscription be selected in-
stead.
Action is no less neces-
sary to us than thought.
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