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Battle Over Israel Aid Is Ominous

By MORRIS AMITAY

WASHINGTON — As
predicted, accurately, but
unfortunately, in our last
column, the Reagan Ad-
ministration has made
additional aid to Israel, a
major issue. Its unprece-
dented vocal opposition to a
Congressional proposal
raising the amounts of U.S.
assistance to Israel $475
million over last year's
levels did not deter the Se-
nate Appropriations Com-
mittee. But the tone and
substance of the negative
public positions put forth by
Administration spokesmen
are cause for deep concern.
GOP Senator Mark Hat-
field of Oregon, chairman of
the committee and long-
time critic of Israel, with-
drew his attempt to limit
aid after he realized a
majority of the committee
did not support the Ad-
ministration's position. The
issues will probably be moot
as far as actual dollars are
concerned since the House
is unlikely to act on the in-
creased amount before Con-
gress adjourns.
Israel does not • seem to
have a single consistent
friend high up in the Ad-
ministration — other than
the President. How long his
support can be counted on is
questionable given the atti-
tudes of his White . House,
State and Defense advisers.
* * *
If you were to look at
the latest available
monthly figures of crude
oil imports into the
United States, you would
be surprised — and per-
haps even shocked — to
see that we imported
more oil from the United
Kingdom than Saudi
Arabia!
Mexico remained our
biggest supplier with
Nigeria second. The Saudis
slipped below the British,
supplying less than 10 'per-
cent. While this is certainly
good news, it can't hide the
fact that the key to future
greater enerty indepen-
dence for the U.S. still lies
in increasing domestic
production of energy

sources of all kinds.
Saudi Arabia with the
world's largest proven re-
serves of this finite resource
still holds some very high
cards.
* * *
With Ted Kennedy of
Massachusetts taking him-
self out of the Presidential
race, the new Democratic
frontrunner is former Vice
President Walter Mondale.
History, however, has
demonstrated that being
the frontrunner some 23
months before an election
does not count for that
much. But there is no doubt
in Washington that "Fritz"
Mondale is off and running
and that he has the back-
ground and experience to
become President.
Supporters of Israel.
should be heartened by
Mondale's improved
prospects. Over the years
as a Senator and as Vice
President, Mondale has
been both accessible and
sympathetic — this
writer can personally at-
test to this.
But despite Mondale's
consistent support and
understanding of 'Israel's
problems, questions have
been raised centering on his
role in the Senate battle
over F-15s for Saudi Arabia
and a • particular 1977
negotiating session de-
scribed by the late Moshe
Dayan in his last book.

Without going into the
details of either instance,
the overriding considera-
tion is that as a Vice
President, Mondale did not
call the shots — Carter did.
On numerous occasions as

Vice President, Mondale did
assert himself positively on
issues affecting Israel —
and he has spoken out since
then — on the AWACS is-
sue, as one example.
Mondale very recently
stated it would be better to
have Israel's supporters in
this country with him and
lose, rather than not have
them with him — and win.
This is both a tribute to the
American Jewish commu-
nity and to the former Vice
President.
No doubt Mondale will
be seeking Jewish sup-
port in his quest for the
Presidency in the months
ahead. Fortunately, we
do have a record to exam-
ine and evaluate, not only
rhetoric.

*

qafrizf qagaa.

Texas. With 19 Republican
Senate seats up in 1984, the
GOP will be hard pressed to
retain control of the Senate.
In the meantime,
Packwood retains his repu-
tation for independence and
integrity as well as his
chairmanship of the impor-
tant Senate Commerce
Committee.

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* *

There is a bright side to
the disappointment felt
over Sen. Bob Packwood
(R-Ore.) losing his . chair-
manship of the Republican
Senate Campaign Commit-
tee. Packwood, an outspo-
ken and staunch supporter
of Israel in the Congress,
and the man who led the
fight against the AWACS
sale, would have been
actively involved in funding
the Senate races for an un-
usually large number of in-
cumbent Republican Sena-
tors with dismal records of
support for Israel.
These include: Senators
Charles Percy of Illinois,
Mark Hatfield of Oregon,
Jesse Helms of North
Carolina, James McClure of
Idaho and John Tower of

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Yiddish Theater
Invades Mexico

MEXICO CITY (JTA)
Maria Esther Zuno de
Echeverria, wife of former
President Luis Echeverria,
said she enjoyed seeing a
performance in Spanish of
the play "Yentle," by Isaac
Bashevis Singer. The play
was performed by a group of
amateur actors at the
Jewish sports center here.

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