Memorandum of Conversation with Secretary of State Dean Acheson, the Foreign Minister of Israel, and Others

5/5 SCERE 201 000136 DECLASSIFIED 90 THUMAN E. O. : 1 <52, Sec. 3(E) and 5(D) or_(E) 9-23-75 DEPARTMENT OF STATE to ARCHIVES AND 'NATIOWAL Dept. of State letter, Atrg. 9,4973 RECOROS SERVICE* canf - everyth Ra NLT. HC , NARS Date 4.21.76 MEMORANDUM OF CONVERSATI for md R. Date: March 22, 1949 SUBJECT PARTICIPANTS: S - The Secretary Mr. Moshe Sharett, Foreign NEA - Mr. Satterthwaite Minister of Israel NE - Mr. Rockwell Mr. Eliahu Elath, Israeli Ambassador-Designate COPIES TO: BC, UNA, USUN, NEA, S/S By stamp to Tel Aviv, London, Amman, Baghdad Jerusalem, Moscow After an exchange of amenities, the Israeli Foreign Minister stated that one of the purposes of his trip to this country was to address a meeting held in connection with the opening of the United Jewish Appeal fund-raising dnive. The Minister stated that Israel expected no assistance from Jews outside of the State as regards the type of political system in the country or the manner in which the foreign relations of Israel were conducted, but that if Jews in other countries desired Israel to be a haven for Jews all over the world, Israel expected them to make financial contributions to assist in the absorption of these immigrants, since it was utterly impossible for Israel to take on such a task alone. Mr. Sharett then discussed the foreign policy of Israel. He stated that it had been necessary for Israel "formally" to adopt a neutral position between the Soviet Union and its Satellites and the Western democracies. Although Israel desired to align itself with the West and would prefer to proclaim this fact publicly, the above described attitude had been adopted because Israel in its formative stage was not yet ready to become directly involved in major international issues, because Israel still felt the need of the support of the Soviet Union in the United Nations and elsewhere in the international field, and because Israel very much desired to arrange for the immigration to Israel of Jews from the Soviet Union and the Soviet Satellite states. For these reasons, said Mr. Sharett, Israel publicly proclaimed its neutrality, but its real sympathies lay with the West. He added that with its entry into