Foreign Relations of the United States, 1955–1957, Arab-Israeli Dispute, January 1–July 26, 1956, Volume XV

233. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, April 2, 1956¹

Washington, April 2, 1956

SUBJECT

• Arms for Israel

PARTICIPANTS

• Mr. Russell—S
• Israel Government
  • Ambassador Eban
  • Reuven Shiloah, Minister
  • Col. Katriel Salmon, Military Attaché

I saw Ambassador Eban, Shiloah and Salmon today at Eban’s request. Eban said that he had reported to his Government the conversation which he had with the Secretary on March 28² and had followed it up with a telegram giving his interpretation of the Secretary’s remarks as meaning that the United States would use its contacts with other Western governments to help Israel obtain arms from them. Eban said that he had also reported to his government a conversation that he had with the Canadian Ambassador here on March 29 in which the latter said that Secretary Dulles had spoken to the Canadian Foreign Minister at a dinner the evening before suggesting that Canada might make some Canadian manufactured F–86’s available to Israel.³ Eban said that he had just received a telegram from Sharett saying that the Israel Government interpreted the Secretary’s remarks to Eban as a turn down of the IG’s arms request and that the remarks about approaches to other governments were just a stall. Eban said that he would appreciate anything I could say which would confirm his impression that the Secretary’s remarks involved anything more than a stalling operation.

I told Eban that I had talked with the Secretary after the March 28 conversation and had his authorization to say that the United States would take steps to ascertain whether Israel could obtain a limited amount of defensive arms from other countries. The Secretary also mentioned to me that he had already spoken to Lester Pearson.

Eban asked me how the United States intended to go about assisting Israel to get arms from the other countries. Would it inform them directly that the United States hoped that they would make arms available to Israel? Should Israel inform them of her conversations with the Secretary? Should an Israel representative sit down with a representative of the United States and work out a schedule of particular equipment which Israel should receive from each of several countries and then cooperate in approaches to those countries? I told Eban those were questions that I was not in a position to answer; they would require some further consideration in the Department. I said that the decision on the question of the best method upon which to proceed and the broader question as to the closeness of U.S.–Israel cooperation during the new period ahead to which the Secretary had referred would, in my opinion, depend upon whether Israel continued to oppose and obstruct U.S. policies in the area and to conduct the political warfare against the United States Government that the Secretary had referred to in his conversation with Eban on March 2.⁴ I said that the Department would be awaiting with interest some indication from the Israel Government on those points.

1. Source: Department of State, NEA Files: Lot 59 D 518, Omega—Memos, etc. from March 24, 1956 to April 23, 1956. Confidential. Drafted on April 14 by Russell.
2. See Document 221.
3. See Document 227.
4. See Document 151.