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 See "THE LEADER" Today Morris Buick IS THE GUY IS THE BUY OPEN MON..& THURS. 'III 9 P.M. 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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. 4 4 4 • •