Speech #880115178

If we are not ready to put Israel into our grant military aid program. as we do in the case of many countries. then we must be ready to maintain economic aid to that country. Now. what has Israel been doing? Even though she has been threatened by hostile forces and must therefore divert much of her budget for defense. she has been able to carry on her magnificent open door policy. She has continued to admit refugees from lands where they have suffered discriminationmany of them in fact have managed to escape to freedom from lands behind the Iron Curtain. Immigration into Israel rose in 1962 to a peak figure. In the last 2 years. Israel has taken in approximately 110.000 people. which is more than 1.000 a week. This has been made possible because the Israelis themselves have gone deeply into debt to finance development. to underwrite their immigration program. and to insure security. The Israelis pay heavy taxes: Every economist will agree that large outlays for defense and for immigration do not produce foreign exchange. Accordingly. it is difficult to pay for such expenditures with loans which require high interest rates. Most countries which acquire weapons for defense have been able to get them without paying anything at all.