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American Israel Public Affairs Committee Luncheon, Washington, DC, April 29, 1971
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American Israel Public Affairs Committee Luncheon, Washington, DC, April 29, 1971
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The original documents are located in Box D31, folder "American Israel Public Affairs
Committee Luncheon, Washington, DC, April 29, 1971" of the Ford Congressional Papers:
Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
Copyright Notice
The copyright law of the United States (Title 17, United States Code) governs the making of
photocopies or other reproductions of copyrighted material. The Council donated to the United
States of America his copyrights in all of his unpublished writings in National Archives collections.
Works prepared by U.S. Government employees as part of their official duties are in the public
domain. The copyrights to materials written by other individuals or organizations are presumed to
remain with them. If you think any of the information displayed in the PDF is subject to a valid
copyright claim, please contact the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library.
AMERICAN- ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS
COMMITTEE LUNCHEON
B-339 RAYBURNHO.B.B.
THURSDAY NOON, APRIL 29,1971
TODAY I WANT TO SPEAK TO YOU OF
PEACE IN THE MIDDLE EAST. WE ARE MEETING
HERE TO REAFFIRM THE CLOSE TIES OF FRIEND-
SHIP BETWEEN THE UNITED STATES AND ISRAEL
AT A TIME WHEN OUR SECRETARY OF STATE IS
ON HIS WAY TO THAT PART OF THE WORLD.
THIS IS A HISTORIC MOMENT -- NOT ONLY
BECAUSE WE COMMEMORATE ISRAEL'S 23RD BIRTHDAY
BUT BECAUSE OF THE POSSIBILITIES OF
DETERRING A RENEWAL OF HOSTILITIES AND
PROMOTING A LASTING PEACE SETTLEMENT.
IT OCCURRED TO ME DURING THE
RECENT OBSERVANCE OF THE PASSOVER HOLIDAY
THAT THE JEWISH PEOPLE EVERY YEAR
PARTICIPATE IN A FESTIVAL DENOTING
DELIVERANCE AND FREEDOM ALTHOUGH THE JEWS
HAVE HAD NO REAL PEACE SINCE ADOLF HITLER
DECLARED WAR ON THE HEBREW FAITH IN THE
Digitized from Box D31 of the Ford Congressional Papers: Press Secretary and Speech File at the Gerald R. Ford Presidential Library
-2-
EARLY 1930'S. I CAN NOW UNDERSTAND THE
DEPTH OF THE JEWISH COMMITMENT TO A GENUINE
PEACE.
THE CAUSE OF PEACE IS SERVED BY
AMERICAN-ISRAELI FRIENDSHIP AND OUR
TRADITIONAL BI-PARTISAN FOREIGN POLICY.
EVERY AMERICAN PRESIDENT OF THE 20TH
CENTURY HAS SUPPORTED THE ZIONIST DREAM OF
A JEWISH NATIONAL HOME. BOTH OF OUR
MAJOR - POLITICAL PARTIES ARE COMMITTED TO
ISRAEL'S SURVIVAL AND SECURITY. WE SEE A
DRAMATIC DEMONSTRATION OF THAT IN THIS ROOM
TODAY, WITH GENTLEMEN FROM BOTH PARTIES
ASSEMBLED TO SHARE IN AN OCCASION THAT COULD
BE INSPIRED BY NO OTHER EMBATTLED NATION
OF TODAY'S WORLD. OUR MUTUAL COMMITMENT TO
ISRAEL IS UNIQUE.
IT IS VITAL THAT WE RETAIN OUR UNITY
IN SUPPORTING THE ISRAELI CAUSE. THE
SOVIET UNION, COLLABORATING WITH THE ARABS,
-3-
IS TRYING TO IMPOSE A UNILATERAL PEACE THAT
WOULD COMPROMISE ISRAEL'S FUTURE. THE ARABS
WOULD ACHIEVE THROUGH DIPLOMACY WHAT THEY
FAILED TO WIN ON THE FIELD OF BATTLE. THE
RUSSIANS WOULD SERVE THEIR OWN AGGRESSIVE
ENDS.
I FEEL THAT THE PARTIES TO THE
CONFLICT ARE THE ONLY PARTIES THAT CAN
NEGOTIATE, CONTRACT, AND KEEP A LASTING
PEACE. THE BOUNDARIES ARE THEIRS. THEY
MUST LIVE WITH THEM. THEY MUST MAKE
MUTUAL ACCOMMODATION WITH EACH OTHER.
ISRAEL, THE VICTIM OF AGGRESSION,
IS ENTITLED TO REASONABLE
CLAIMS FOR NEW AND SECURE BOUNDARIES.
ISRAEL HAS EVERY RIGHT TO SEEK A
DEFENSIBLE FRONTIER WHICH MAY NOT
CORRESPOND IDENTICALLY WITH THE FRONTIERS
OF 1967 WHEN THE FORCES OF AGGRESSION
-4-
IMPOSED AN UNWANTED WAR UPON ISRAEL. I WILL
NOT TODAY DISCUSS THE VARIOUS PROPOSALS
AND FORMULAS EXCEPT TO SAY THAT WE MUST
EXERCISE GREAT CARE TO AVOID UNWITTING
COLLABORATION WITH MOSCOW AND IMPOSE A
SETTLEMENT UPON ISRAEL.
IN EXERCISING SUCH
CAUTION IT
IS VITAL THAT WE MAINTAIN THE GREAT BASTION
OF BI-PARTISAN CONGRESSIONAL SUPPORT OF
ISRAEL. SUCH SUPPORT STRENGTHENS THE
HAND OF OUR PRESIDENT WHO IS COMMITTED TO
A JUST PEACE. BUT I AM TROUBLED THAT SOME
VERY IMPORTANT MEMBERS OF THE UNITED STATES
SENATE ARE ABANDONING BI-PARTISANSHIP ON
THE MIDDLE EAST AND ARE MAKING STATEMENTS
THAT FACILITATE THE SOVIET UNION'S ANTI-
ISRAEL PRESSURES.
I AM THINKING OF ONE SENATOR WHO
FORD
IS SEEKING OUR HIGHEST NATIONAL OFFICE.
GERALD
LIBRARY
EARLIER THIS YEAR HE WANT TO THE MIDDLE EAST
5
AND THEN CALLED ON SOVIET PREMIER KOSYGIN
IN MOSCOW. HE TOLD KOSYGIN THAT "THERE
WAS A STRONG BODY OF OPINION IN THE UNITED
STATES" OPPOSED TO U.S. DEFENSE APPROPRIATIONS
LINKED TO OUR FOREIGN COMMITMENTS INCLUDING
THE MIDDLE EAST.
I AM DISMAYED THAT SUCH A
WELL-INFORMED SENATOR COULD VISIT ISRAEL
AND EGYPT WHERE HE ACTUALLY WITNESSED THE
ONGOING SOVIET MILITARY BUILD-UP AND STILL
FIND IT POSSIBLE TO GO TO MOSCOW AND TELL
KOSYGIN THAT THERE WAS A DISUNITY BETWEEN
HIM AND PRESIDENT NIXON ON U.S. MILITARY
SPENDING THAT RELATES TO ISRAEL'S SECURITY.
THIS WAS A DISSERVICE TO ISRAEL SECURITY.
IT WAS A DISSERVICE TO THE BI-PARTISAN
FOREIGN POLICY OBJECTIVES OF THE UNITED
STATES. IT TENDED TO UNDERMINE THE
GERRER
CREDIBILITY OF AMERICAN DETERRENCE OF THE
GROWING SOVIET MILITARY INVOLVEMENT AGAINST
6
ISRAEL. IT UNDERCUT THE IMPACT OF
PRESIDENT NIXON'S VISIT TO THE U.S. SIXTH
FLEET IN THE MEDITERRANEAN LAST AUTUMN WHEN
THE PRESIDENT SERVED NOTICE ON MOSCOW THAT
WE WERE PREPARED TO DEFEND FREEDOM IN THE
MEDITERRANEAN.
I AM DISMAYED THAT THIS SENATOR
COULD IGNORE WHAT THE SOVIET UNION IS DOING
NOT ONLY IN THE UNITED ARAB REPUBLIC BUT ALSO
THROUGH ITS INTERVENTION IN SUCH PLACES AS
CEYLON, SUDAN, AND EAST PAKISTAN.
RUSSIAN MIG'S AND RUSSIAN BOMBS ARE KILLING
PEASANTS IN THOSE PLACES.
BUT SOME ARE TOO
BUSY DENOUNCING OUR OWN NATION TO NOTICE
WHILE WE TALK OF PEACE, THE
RUSSIANS BUILD NEW MISSILE SYSTEMS. WHILE
OUR DEFENSE NEEDS ARE ATTACKED, A RUSSIAN
LEADER IS TOLD THAT ELEMENTS OF OUR CONGRESS
ARE TRYING TO CUT BACK OUR MILITARY
APPROPRIATIONS BILLS.
7
I WOULD HAVE BEEN MORE ENCOURAGED
TO HEAR THAT THIS DISTINGUISHED SENATOR
VISITED MOSCOW AND TOLD KOSYGIN THAT
IF RUSSIA IS SO CATEGORICAL IN DEMANDING
ISRAELI WITHDRAWAL FROM EVERY VESTIGE OF
OCCUPIED TERRITORY, LET
RUSSIA SET AN
EXAMPLE BY WITHDRAWING FROM THE NATIONS OF
LITHUANIA, ESTONIA, AND LATVIA WHICH HAVE
BEEN FORCIBLY INCORPORATED INTO THE SOVIET
UNION. MOSCOW IN THESE CASES USED THE
PRETEXT OF SECURITY BUT DENIES ISRAEL THE
RIGHT TO FRONTIER REVISIONS EVEN IN A VERY
DIFFERENT CONTEXT, A CONTEXT IN WHICH
ISRAEL IS THE TARGET OF AGGRESSION AND IS
THREATENED BY THE FAR-RANGING ELEMENTS OF
SOVIET MILITARY POWER.
LET ME REFER TO AND THER SENATOR,
THE CHAIRMAN OF A PRESTIGIOUS COMMITTEE,
WHO RECENTLY DENOUNCED THE STATE OF ISRAEL
FOR ALLEGEDLY RESORTING TO "COMMUNIST-
8
BAITING HUMBUGGERY," AND HE DESCRIBED IT,
TO "MAN IPULATE" -- HIS WORD -- THE UNITED
STATES POLICY IN THE MIDDLE EAST. HE
DEPICTED ISRAEL AS A MANIPULATIVE "PUSHER"
OF NOXIOUS IDEOLOGICAL DRUGS BECAUSE
ISRAEL DARES TO OPPOSE COMMUNISM AND
AGGRESSION.
IT IS TRAGIC THAT SUCH A SELF-
PROCLAIMED PEACE ADVOCATE HAS UNDERMINED
PROSPECTS OF A REAL ARAB-ISRAELI SETTLEMENT
BY TACITLY ENCOURAGING THE SOVIET UNION AND
ARAB EXTREMISTS TO DESIST FROM A GENUINE
PEACE AND TO CONTINUE A GREAT MILITARY
ESCALATION IN THE HOPES OF FORCING THEIR
WILL UPON ISRAEL. THIS SENATOR HAS
WEAKENED THE BI-PARTISAN FOREIGN POLICY OF
THE UNITED STATES.
IT IS VERY IMPORTANT THAT THE
LUNCHEON WE ARE NOW ATTENDING BECOME MORE
THAN A RITUALISTIC EXPRESSION OF PRO-ISRAEL
9
GENERALITIES. THOSE WHO TRULY CARE ABOUT
ISRAEL'S SURVIVAL MUST MAKE BI-PARTISAN
SUPPORT AN ACTION INVOLVING DEEDS RATHER
THAN WORDS.
I WAS VERY GRATIFIED TO BE PART
OF AN ADMINISTRATION THAT RESPONDED TO THE
REALITIES IN THE MIDDLE EAST BY PROVIDING
ISRAEL WITH SOME OF THE FINEST U.S.
WEAPONS. WE PRAY FOR A DAY WHEN WE CAN BEAT
OUR SWORDS INTO PLOWSHARES. BUT WE WITNESS
THE SOVIET SHIPMENTS OF THE LATEST RUSSIAN
WEAPONRY AND AIRCRAFT -- INCLUDING THE MIG-23
SUPERSONIC FIGHTER-BOMBERS -- WHICH ARE SO
SOPHISTICATED THAT THEY MUST BE OPERATED
BY RUSSIANS. WE WITNESS A DEEPENING SOVIET
INFILTRATION OF THE MIDDLE EAST, AN
EXPANDING INVOLVEMENT, A BUILD-UP OF
AGGRESSIVE BASES. I AM NOW REASSURED TO KNOW
THAT MY COUNTRY AT LEAST HAS PROVIDED ISRAEL
WITH THE ME ANS OF DETERRING AGGRESSION.
10
HOW BEAUTIFUL IT WOULD BE TO HEAR
CERTAIN SENATORS QUESTION THE PRESENCE
OF SOVIET TROOPS IN EGYPT.
THE ARAB NATIONS -- EGYPT, LIBYA,
AND SYRIA -- AND THEIR 42 MILLION PEOPLE
ARE SEEKING A NEW UNION
INVOLVING ONE
PRESIDENT, ONE FLAG, ONE MILITARY COMMAND,
AND, OBVIOUSLY, ONE ENEMY. THE STATE OF
ISRAEL. I FERVENTLY HOPE THAT OUR
SECRETARY OF STATE ASSESSES THIS NEW
DEVELOPMENT AND CAREFULLY EVALUATES THE
LATEST SOVIET MILITARY MOVES AND OTHER
DEVELOPMENTS. HE COULD APPROPRIATELY ADVISE
THE CONGRESS ON THE DEVEL OPING SECURITY
SITUATION IN THE MIDDLE EAST. THE CRISIS
GOES FAR BEYOND THE SUEZ CANAL.
FORD is LIBRARY GERALD
OUR BI-PARTISAN CONGRESSIONAL
POLICY ON THE MIDDLE EAST IS COMMITTED TO
A PEACE THAT MUST EMERGE FROM THE PARTIES
DIRECTLY INVOLVED. WE REJECT ANY
11
DIPLOMATIC CONCEPT THAT WOULD FORCE OUR
FRIENDS, THE ISRAELIS, TO NEGOTIATE WITH
THE UNITED STATES RATHER THAN EGYPT ON THE
TERRITORIAL QUESTION. MOSCOW WOULD RELISH
A
SPLIT BETWEEN AMERICA AND ISRAEL.
IT IS APPARENT THAT SOVIET
DIPLOMACY SEEKS TO AVOID A FORMAL PEACE
WHILE FORCING ISRAEL OUT OF TERRITORIES NOW
OCCUPIED. CONSIDER THE FULL CONTEXT OF
DEVELOPMENTS. A NEW SITUATION IS
DEVELOPING IN ASIA. ISRAEL IS, AFTER ALL,
AN ASIAN NATION. SO IS THE SOVIET UNION.
WE MAY NOW BE ENTERING A NEW AND FAR-REACHING
RELATIONSHIP WITH COMMUNIST CHINA THAT COULD
EVEN AFFECT THE MIDDLE EAST IN TERMS OF
SOVIET POLICIES. IT REMAINS TO BE SEEN
WHETHER CHINESE OVERTURES LEAD BEYOND
PING-PONG. BUT THIS IS OBVIOUSLY NOT THE
TIME TO ABANDON A TRUE FRIEND LIKE
BERALD FORD LIBRARY
ISRAEL IN ONE CORNER OF ASIA WHILE A WHOLE
12
NEW CONSTELLATION OF FACTORS MAY BE
EMERGING INVOLVING OUR VARIOUS RELATIONSHIPS
AND POSSIBILITIES FOR A NEW PHASE ON THAT
SIDE OF THE
WORLD.
IT IS POSSIBLE THAT A FIRM AND
NON-HYSTERICAL POLICY WILL LEAD TO THE
KIND OF ASIA WE ALL WANT -- AN ASIA AT PEACE
WITH A LIVE-AND-LET-LIVE ATTITUDE TOWARD
OTHER NATIONS AND OTHER PHILOSOPHIES OF
GOVERNMENT. IN THIS CONTEXT IT IS
CONCEIVABLE THAT EVEN THE ARABS AND ISRAELIS
MAY FIND A WAY TO PLAY PING-PONG.
13
Meanwhile, the United States Government must continue to give
Israel the backing necessary to maintain the credibility of
our friendship. This is in our own self-interest as a world
power. We will not dip the Stars and STripes in retreat and
defeat in the Mediterranean. We are not ready to abandon Western
Furope or NATO. Nor are we unconscious of the implications of a
strong and viable Israel to the free world.
Another important matter concerns both the United States
and Israel. I refer to the fate of the Jewish community of the
Soviet Union. This is not a religious or partisan matter but an
issue completely consistent with our beliefs and commitments to
human freedom and the dignity of the individual.
America and Israel are both concerned about the brotherhood
of man under the Fatherhood of God. We cannot rest without doing
everything within our power to alleviate the plight of Russian
Jewry and to communicate to the Soviet authorities that the
American people are watching Soviet racism and religious
discrimination.
I wish to salute the brave Jews, young and old, who stand
up to the Soviet secret police. I wish to honor them within the
halls of the United States Congress. They are true demonstrators
for peace and freedom. They are putting their lives on the
817
line against totalitarianism and oppression. Their heroic deeds
14
in the face of Communism should be recorded in our history books
so that American young people can know what it really means to
demonstrate against an oppressive regime.
This observance of Israel's anniversary coincides with the
anniversary of the courageous Jewish uprising in the Warsaw
Ghetto against the Nazis during World War II. America and Israel
are dedicated and rededicated to the proposition that the Jewish
victims of Nazism and Communism did not die in vain. We have
faith that their sacrifices will lead to a world in which our
children and our children's children can cherish the Judeo-
Christian values in a society that is flexible enough to change
but brave enough to retain its freedom.
I thank you.
Distribution: Full
Galleries 9:30a 4/29/71
mail am 4/29/71
Maffice Copy
100 to Comm. 4/28/71 F
REMARKS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AT A LUNCHEON OF THE
AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
ROOM B-339, RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON, D. C.
THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1971
FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON
Today I want to speak to you of peace in the Middle East. We are meeting
here to reaffirm the close ties of friendship between the United States and Israel
at a time when our Secretary of State is on his way to that part of the world.
This is a historic moment--not only because we commemorate Israel's 23rd birthday
but because of the possibilities of deterring a renewal of hostilities and promoting
a lasting peace settlement.
It occurred to me during the recent observance of the Passover holiday that
the Jewish people every year participate in a festival denoting deliverance and
freedom although the Jews have had no real peace since Adolf Hitler declared war
on the Hebrew faith in the early 1930's. I can now understand the depth of the
Jewish commitment to a genuine peace.
The cause of peace is served by American-Israeli friendship and our
traditional bi-partisan foreign policy. Every American President of the 20th
century has supported the Zionist dream of a Jewish national home. Both of our
major political parties are committed to Israel's survival and security. We see a
dramatic demonstration of that in this room today, with gentlemen from both parties
assembled to share in an occasion that could be inspired by no other embattled
nation of today's world. Our mutual commitment to Israel is unique.
It is vital that we retain our unity in supporting the Israeli cause. The
Soviet Union, collaborating with the Arabs, is trying to impose a unilateral peace
that would compromise Israel's future. The Arabs would achieve through diplomacy
what they failed to win on the field of battle. The Russians would serve their own
aggressive ends.
I feel that the parties to the conflict are the only parties that can
negotiate, contract, and keep a lasting peace. The boundaries are theirs. They
must live with them. They must make mutual accommodation with each other.
Israel, the victim of aggression, is entitled to reasonable claims for new
and secure boundaries. Israel has every right to seek a defensible frontier which FORD
(more)
GERALD LIBRARY
-2-
may not correspond identically with the frontiers of 1967 when the forces of
aggression imposed an unwanted war upon Israel. I will not today discuss the
various proposals and formulas except to say that we must exercise great care to
avoid unwitting collaboration with Mos cow and impose a settlement upon Israel.
In exercising such caution it is vital that we maintain the great bastion
of bi-partisan Congressional support of Israel. Such support strengthens the hand
of our President who is committed to a just peace. But I am troubled that some very
important Members of the United States Senate are abandoning bi-partisanship on the
Middle East and are making statements that facilitate the Soviet Union's anti-Israel
pressures.
I am thinking of one Senator who is seeking our highest national office.
Earlier this year he went to the Middle East and then called on Soviet Premier
Kosygin in Moscow. He told Kosygin that "there was a strong body of opinion in the
United States" opposed to U.S. defense appropriations linked to our foreign
commitments including the Middle East.
I am dismayed that such a well-informed Senator could visit Israel and Egypt
where he actually witnessed the ongoing Soviet military build-up and still find it
possible to go to Moscow and tell Kosygin that there was disunity between him and
President Nixon on U.S. military spending that relates to Israel's security. This
was a disservice to Israel's security. It was a disservice to the bi-partisan
foreign policy objectives of the United States. It tended to undermine the
credibility of American deterrence of the growing Soviet military involvement
against Israel. It undercut the impact of President Nixon's visit to the U.S.
Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean last Autumn when the President served notice on
Moscow that we were prepared to defend freedom in the Mediterranean.
I am dismayed that this Senator could ignore what the Soviet Union is doing
not only in the United Arab Republic but also through its intervention in such
places as Ceylon, Sudan, and East Pakistan. Russian MIG's and Russian bombs are
killing peasants in those places. But some are too busy denouncing our own nation
to notice.
While we talk of peace, the Russians build new missile systems. While our
defense needs are attacked, a Russian leader is told that elements of our Congress
are trying to cut back our military appropriations bills.
I would have been much more encouraged to hear that this distinguished Senator
visited Moscow and told Kosygin that if Russia is so categorical in demanding
Israeli withdrawal from every vestige of occupied territory, let Russia set an
(more)
-3-
example by withdrawing from the nations of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia which
have been forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union. Moscow in these cases used
the pretext of security but denies Israel the right to frontier revisions even in
a very different context, a context in which Israel is the target of aggression and
is threatened by the far-ranging elements of Soviet military power.
Let me refer to another Senator, the chairman of a prestigious Committee,
who recently denounced the State of Israel for allegedly resorting to "Communist-
baiting humbuggery," as he described it, to "manipulate"--his word--the United
States policy in the Middle East. He depicted Israel as a manipulative "pusher" of
noxious ideological drugs because Israel dares to oppose Communism and aggression.
It is tragic that such a self-proclaimed peace advocate has undermined
prospects of a real Arab-Israeli settlement by tacitly encouraging the Soviet Union
and Arab extremists to desist from a genuine peace and to continue a great military
escalation in the hopes of forcing their will upon Israel. This Senator has
weakened the bi-partisan foreign policy of the United States.
It is very important that the luncheon we are now attending become more than
a ritualistic expression of pro-Israel generalities. Those who truly care about
Israel's survival must make bi-partisan support an action involving deeds rather
than words.
I was very gratified to be part of an Administration that responded to the
realities in the Middle East by providing Israel with some of the finest U.S.
weapons. We pray for a day when we can beat our swords into plowshares. But we
witness the Soviet shipments of the latest Russian weaponry and aircraft--including
the MIG-23 supersonic fighter-bombers--which are so sophisticated that they must
be operated by Russians. We witness a deepening Soviet infiltration of the Middle
East, an expanding involvement, a build-up of aggressive bases. I am now reassured
to know that my country at least has provided Israel with the means of deterring
aggression.
How beautiful ti would be to hear certain Senators question the presence
of Soviet troops in Egypt!
Three Arab nations--Egypt, Libya, and Syria--and their 42 million people
are seeking a new union involving one President, one flag, one military command, and,
and, obviously, one enemy: The State of Israel. I fervently hope that our Secretary
of State assesses this new development and carefully evaluates the latest Soviet
military moves and other developments. He could appropriately advise the Congress
(more)
-4-
on the developing security situation in the Middle East. The crisis goes far
beyond the Suez Canal.
Our bi-partisan Congressional policy on the Middle East is committed to a
peace that must emerge from the parties directly involved. We reject any diplomatic
concept that would force our friends, the Israelis, to negotiate with the United
States rather than Egypt on the territorial question. Moscow would relish a split
between America and Israel.
It is apparent that Soviet diplomacy seeks to avoid a formal peace while
forcing Israel out of territories now occupied. Consider the full context of
developments. A new situation is developing in Asia. Israel is, after all, an
Asian nation. So is the Soviet Union. We may now be entering a new and far-
reaching relationship with Communist China that could even affect the Middle East
in terms of Soviet policies. It remains to be seen whether Chinese overtures lead
beyond Ping-Pong. But this is obviously not the time to abandon a true friend like
Israel in one corner of Asia while a whole new constellation of factors may be
emerging involving our various relationships and possibilities for a new phase on
that side of the world.
It is possible that a firm and non-hysterical policy will lead to the kind
of Asia we all want--an Asia at peace, with a live-and-let-live attitude toward
other nations and other philosophies of government. In this context it is
conceivable that even the Arabs and Israelis may find a way to play Ping-Pong.
Meanwhile, the United States Government must continue to give Israel the
backing necessary to maintain the credibility of our friendship. This is in our
own self-interest as a world power. We will not dip the Stars and Stripes in
retreat and defeat in the Mediterranean. We are not ready to abandon Western
Europe or NATO. Nor are we unconscious of the implications of a strong and viable
Israel to the free world.
Another important matter concerns both the United States and Israel. I
refer to the fate of the Jewish community of the Soviet Union. This is not a
religious or partisan matter but an issue completely consistent with our beliefs
and commitments to human freedom and the dignity of the individual.
America and Israel are both concerned about the brotherhood of man under
the Fatherhood of God. We cannot rest without doing everything within our power
to alleviate the plight of Russian Jewry and to communicate to the Soviet
authorities that the American people are watching Soviet racism and religious
discrimination.
(more)
-5-
I wish to salute the brave Jews, young and old, who stand up to the Soviet
secret police. I wish to honor them within the halls of the United States Congress.
They are true demonstrators for peace and freedom. They are putting their lives
on the line against totalitarianism and oppression. Their heroic deeds in the face
of Communism should be recorded in our history books so that American young people
can know what it really means to demonstrate against an oppressive regime.
This observance of Israel's anniversary coincides with the anniversary of
the courageous Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto against the Nazis during
World War II. America and Israel are dedicated and rededicated to the proposition
that the Jewish victims of Nazism and Communism did not die in vain. We have
faith that their sacrifices will lead to a world in which our children and our
children's children can cherish the Judeo-Christian values in a society that is
flexible enough to change but brave enough to retain its freedom.
I thank you.
# # #
Full Distribution
Office Copy
REMARKS BY REP. GERALD R. FORD, R-MICH.
REPUBLICAN LEADER, U.S. HOUSE OF REPRESENTATIVES
AT A LUNCHEON OF THE
AMERICAN ISRAEL PUBLIC AFFAIRS COMMITTEE
ROOM B-339, RAYBURN HOUSE OFFICE BUILDING
WASHINGTON, D. C.
THURSDAY, APRIL 29, 1971
FOR RELEASE AT 12 NOON
Today I want to speak to you of peace in the Middle East. We are meeting
here to reaffirm the close ties of friendship between the United States and Israel
at a time when our Secretary of State is on his way to that part of the world.
This is a historic moment--not only because we commemorate Israel's 23rd birthday
but because of the possibilities of deterring a renewal of hostilities and promoting
a lasting peace settlement.
It occurred to me during the recent observance of the Passover holiday that
the Jewish people every year participate in a festival denoting deliverance and
freedom although the Jews have had no real peace since Adolf Hitler declared war
on the Hebrew faith in the early 1930's. I can now understand the depth of the
Jewish commitment to a genuine peace.
The cause of peace is served by American-Israeli friendship and our
traditional bi-partisan foreign policy. Every American President of the 20th
century has supported the Zionist dream of a Jewish national home. Both of our
major political parties are committed to Israel's survival and security. We see a
dramatic demonstration of that in this room today, with gentlemen from both parties
assembled to share in an occasion that could be inspired by no other embattled
nation of today's world. Our mutual commitment to Israel is unique.
It is vital that we retain our unity in supporting the Israeli cause. The
Soviet Union, collaborating with the Arabs, is trying to impose a unilateral peace
that would compromise Israel's future. The Arabs would achieve through diplomacy
what they failed to win on the field of battle. The Russians would serve their own
aggressive ends.
I feel that the parties to the conflict are the only parties that can
negotiate, contract, and keep a lasting peace. The boundaries are theirs. They
must live with them. They must make mutual accommodation with each other.
Israel, the victim of aggression, is entitled to reasonable claims for new
and secure boundaries. Israel has every right to seek a defensible frontier which FORD
(more)
GERALD LIBRARY
-2-
may not correspond identically with the frontiers of 1967 when the forces of
aggression imposed an unwanted war upon Israel. I will not today discuss the
various proposals and formulas except to say that we must exercise great care to
avoid unwitting collaboration with Mos cow and impose a settlement upon Israel.
In exercising such caution it is vital that we maintain the great bastion
of bi-partisan Congressional support of Israel. Such support strengthens the hand
of our President who is committed to a just peace. But I am troubled that some very
important Members of the United States Senate are abandoning bi-partisanship on the
Middle East and are making statements that facilitate the Soviet Union's anti-Israel
pressures.
I am thinking of one Senator who is seeking our highest national office.
Earlier this year he went to the Middle East and then called on Soviet Premier
Kosygin in Moscow. He told Kosygin that "there was a strong body of opinion in the
United States" opposed to U.S. defense appropriations linked to our foreign
commitments including the Middle East.
I am dismayed that such a well-informed Senator could visit Israel and Egypt
where he actually witnessed the ongoing Soviet military build-up and still find it
possible to go to Moscow and tell Kosygin that there was disunity between him and
President Nixon on U.S. military spending that relates to Israel's security. This
was a disservice to Israel's security. It was a disservice to the bi-partisan
foreign policy objectives of the United States. It tended to undermine the
credibility of American deterrence of the growing Soviet military involvement
against Israel. It undercut the impact of President Nixon's visit to the U.S.
Sixth Fleet in the Mediterranean last Autumn when the President served notice on
Moscow that we were prepared to defend freedom in the Mediterranean.
I am dismayed that this Senator could ignore what the Soviet Union is doing
not only in the United Arab Republic but also through its intervention in such
places as Ceylon, Sudan, and East Pakistan. Russian MIG's and Russian bombs are
killing peasants in those places. But some are too busy denouncing our own nation
to notice.
While we talk of peace, the Russians build new missile systems. While our
defense needs are attacked, a Russian leader is told that elements of our Congress
are trying to cut back our military appropriations bills.
I would have been much more encouraged to hear that this distinguished Senator
visited Moscow and told Kosygin that if Russia is so categorical in demanding
Israeli withdrawal from every vestige of occupied territory, let Russia set an
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example by withdrawing from the nations of Lithuania, Estonia, and Latvia which
have been forcibly incorporated into the Soviet Union. Mos'cow in these cases used
the pretext of security but denies Israel the right to frontier revisions even in
a very different context, a context in which Israel is the target of aggression and
is threatened by the far-ranging elements of Soviet military power.
Let me refer to another Senator, the chairman of a prestigious Committee,
who recently denounced the State of Israel for allegedly resorting to "Communist-
baiting humbuggery,' as he described it, to "manipulate"--his word--the United
States policy in the Middle East. He depicted Israel as a manipulative "pusher" of
noxious ideological drugs because Israel dares to oppose Communism and aggression.
It is tragic that such a self-proclaimed peace advocate has undermined
prospects of a real Arab-Israeli settlement by tacitly encouraging the Soviet Union
and Arab extremists to desist from a genuine peace and to continue a great military
escalation in the hopes of forcing their will upon Israel. This Senator has
weakened the bi-partisan foreign policy of the United States.
It is very important that the luncheon we are now attending become more than
a ritualistic expression of pro-Israel generalities. Those who truly care about
Israel's survival must make bi-partisan support an action involving deeds rather
than words.
I was very gratified to be part of an Administration that responded to the
realities in the Middle East by providing Israel with some of the finest U.S.
weapons. We pray for a day when we can beat our swords into plowshares. But we
witness the Soviet shipments of the latest Russian weaponry and aircraft--including
the MIG-23 supersonic fighter-bombers--which are so sophisticated that they must
be operated by Russians. We witness a deepening Soviet infiltration of the Middle
East, an expanding involvement, a build-up of aggressive bases. I am now reassured
to know that my country at least has provided Israel with the means of deterring
aggression.
- How beautiful ti would be to hear certain Senators question the presence
of Soviet troops in Egypt!
Three Arab nations Egypt, Libya, and Syria--and their 42 million people
are seeking a new union involving one President, one flag, one military command, and,
and, obviously, one enemy: The State of Israel. I fervently hope that our Secretary
of State assesses this new development and carefully evaluates the latest Soviet
military moves and other developments. He could appropriately advise the Congress
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on the developing security situation in the Middle East. The crisis goes far
beyond the Suez Canal.
Our bi-partisan Congressional policy on the Middle East is committed to a
peace that must emerge from the parties directly involved. We reject any diplomatic
concept that would force our friends, the Israelis, to negotiate with the United
States rather than Egypt on the territorial question. Moscow would relish a split
between America and Israel.
It is apparent that Soviet diplomacy seeks to avoid a formal peace while
forcing Israel out of territories now occupied. Consider the full context of
developments. A new situation is developing in Asia. Israel is, after all, an
Asian nation. So is the Soviet Union. We may now be entering a new and far-
reaching relationship with Communist China that could even affect the Middle East
in terms of Soviet policies. It remains to be seen whether Chinese overtures lead
beyond Ping-Pong. But this is obviously not the time to abandon a true friend like
Israel in one corner of Asia while a whole new constellation of factors may be
emerging involving our various relationships and possibilities for a new phase on
that side of the world.
It is possible that a firm and non-hysterical policy will lead to the kind
of Asia we all want-an Asia at peace, with a live-and-let-live attitude toward
other nations and other philosophies of government. In this context it is
conceivable that even the Arabs and Israelis may find a way to play Ping-Pong.
Meanwhile, the United States Government must continue to give Israel the
backing necessary to maintain the credibility of our friendship. This is in our
own self-interest as a world power. We will not dip the Stars and Stripes in
retreat and defeat in the Mediterranean. We are not ready to abandon Western
Europe or NATO. Nor are we unconscious of the implications of a strong and viable
Israel to the free world.
Another important matter concerns both the United States and Israel. I
refer to the fate of the Jewish community of the Soviet Union. This is not a
religious or partisan matter but an issue completely consistent with our beliefs
and commitments to human freedom and the dignity of the individual.
America and Israel are both concerned about the brotherhood of man under
the Fatherhood of God. We cannot rest without doing everything within our power
to alleviate the plight of Russian Jewry and to communicate to the Soviet
authorities that the American people are watching Soviet racism and religious
discrimination.
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I wish to salute the brave Jews, young and old, who stand up to the Soviet
secret police. I wish to honor them within the halls of the United States Congress.
They are true demonstrators for peace and freedom. They are putting their lives
on the line against totalitarianism and oppression. Their heroic deeds in the face
of Communism should be recorded in our history books so that American young people
can know what it really means to demonstrate against an oppressive regime.
This observance of Israel's anniversary coincides with the anniversary of
the courageous Jewish uprising in the Warsaw Ghetto against the Nazis during
World War II. America and Israel are dedicated and rededicated to the proposition
that the Jewish victims of Nazism and Communism did not die in vain. We have
faith that their sacrifices will lead to a world in which our children and our
children's children can cherish the Judeo-Christian values in a society that is
flexible enough to change but brave enough to retain its freedom.
I thank you.
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