Egypt’s War of Attrition Against Israel is Boomeranging in the Arab World

Arab expectations that its war of attrition would eventually result in the military and economic collapse of Israel has boomeranged and, in the view of the Israel Ambassador to Canada, Ephraim Evron, “eventually the utter futility of the military confrontation with Israel must become clearer to the Arab peoples.” Ambassador Evron spoke at the second national convention of the Federated Zionist Organization of Canada which was attended by 1,000 delegates from across Canada. Hyman Bessin, Ottawa, Canadian industrialist, was elected president. Deputy presidents are Nathan Silver, Toronto and Syd Zack, Vancouver. Summing up “three years without a meaningful cease-fire.” Israel Ambassador Evron said: “There has been a drastic change in both the conditions and effect of the confrontation between the Arab states and Israel. We have been able to blunt the Egyptian plan to take the offensive with the aim of clearing our forces from the Suez Canal area and start an all-out war.”

Mr. Evron predicted that Egypt “will find it more and more difficult to keep up the arms race and the expansion of its military strength.” When this point is reached, Israel’s defense burden will lighten and “within a few years our economic strength will make us immune to outside political and military pressure,” he said. Israel Minister of Social Welfare, Dr. Josef Burg said that his government had decided “for a start” to spend $6,500,000 on housing, water lines, electricity and vocational training to clean up the Arab refugee camps which had been left to stagnate for 20 years under Arab control. He said the move to improve camp conditions was in response to Arab pleas. Jewish Agency Executive Chairman, Aryeh L. Pincus noted attempts in Canada and elsewhere to “undermine Jewish solidarity and identification with Israel by carrying on wicked anti-Semitic and anti-Zionist propaganda originated in the Communist countries, was picked up by the Arab world and spread by the so-called New Left.” He termed it essential in the 1970’s for “Zionist ideology in principal and practise to be restated for the Jewish world and especially for the youth,” as “the struggle for Jewish survival and Jewish renaissance is no less a struggle as a national liberation movement than any other comparable movement.”