Israel's stem leader rallies followers across the U.S.
So eagerly were hands outstretched and backs slapped, so boisterously were politicians crowded round, that it might have been a presidential candidate barnstorming the country. But the center of the commotion was Israeli Premier Menachem Begin, who toured the U.S. last week to highlight celebrations of the 30th anniversary of the founding of Israel (May 11). Though the eight-day trip had been planned six months in advance, it happened to come at a delicate moment in U.S.-Israeli relations: the U.S. Congress was embroiled in controversy over a complex, three-way airplane sale to the Middle East. Rarely in U.S. history had a foreign chief of government so unabashedly ventured out onto the hustings, as it were, to drum up support for his policies.
The Premier's arrival strongly reinforced the Israel lobby's campaign against the plane deal: 75 F-16s and 15 F-15s for Israel, 50 F-5Es for Egypt and 60 F-15s for Saudi Arabia. Israelis are adamantly opposed to the Saudi Arabian sale because they fear that the highly sophisticated F-15 fighters might be converted to bombers and used against them. The Carter Administration argues that the planes are essential for the defense of a pivotal Middle Eastern ally.
Testifying last week before the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, Secretary of State Cyrus Vance warned that "failure to proceed with the sales will seriously undercut the American role in the peace process and raise grave doubts about U.S. readiness to work with moderate governments in the region." General David Jones, acting Chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, assured the committee that the F-15s would be equipped for defense. Israel, he insisted, would be in greater danger if Saudi Arabia turned to France for Mirage Fl fighters, which are better suited for ground attack.
The Administration warnings had little effect on the Hill. Annoyed by a White House claim that a majority of members of the House International Relations Committee favored the sale, Democratic Congressman Dante Fascell, who represents a heavily Jewish district in Miami, drafted a resolution of disapproval and got a majority of committee members to sign it. Explained Fascell: "We had to demonstrate that there is a serious difference of opinion on this question, that it's not all over." After State Department officials huddled with Fascell and other committee members, the White House indicated that it would be willing to change the terms of the sale. The number of planes going to Israel might be increased, and the Saudis would have to pledge to use the planes they purchase only for defense.
While the issue was intensely debated behind the scenes, Begin made his public appeals on behalf of Israel. He avoided the details of the issues as best he could, making the trip largely ceremonial.
But he had an indisputably political purpose in his main goal of rallying people to the ancient cause, and in this he seemed quite successful.