Office of the Historian

178. Memorandum of a Conversation Between the Minister of the Israeli Embassy (Shiloah) and the Deputy Under Secretary of State for Political Affairs (Murphy), Department of State, Washington, March 1, 1957, 12:30 p.m.1

Washington, March 1, 1957, 12:30 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • Israel

Minister Shiloah called on me at his urgent request. He said he wanted the Secretary to know of the extreme difficulties which are facing his Government internally. For example, he said ten minutes ago Golda Meir had been talking with Ben-Gurion on the telephone and the latter was urging that she obtain a delay in the announcement today because the situation of the Government was so delicate. She persuaded Ben-Gurion that this was just not in the cards, according to Shiloah. The latter said that no doubt at least one or two parties will withdraw from the coalition and the crisis may destroy the present coalition.

2.
He expressed the urgent hope that the American statement in New York would contain language regarding American recognition of the considerations Israel had advanced regarding Gaza. He said the Secretary had read to Eban language from the U.S. draft statement which they liked and hoped this would not be omitted.2
3.
Shiloah said that while it may be reaching for the moon, they urged that the Secretary proceed to New York to handle the matter in the Assembly personally. He said that this did not mean any lack of confidence in Lodge, but that they believe that the Secretary has so much better feel and understanding of the delicate problems involved that they would be much easier in their minds if he were to handle matters personally in the General Assembly.

I told Mr. Shiloah that this would be conveyed to the Secretary immediately.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 674.84A/3–157. Confidential. Drafted by Murphy. A handwritten notation on the source text by Bernau reads: “Sec saw & read pencilled portion to NY”.↩
  2. At this point in the source text appears a handwritten insertion by Murphy: “(This seems to refer to the 2d para, page 2 of our draft)”. The paragraph to which Murphy refers is the third paragraph in the draft statment for Lodge attached to Document 173.↩