Battling the Blacklist

The Arab boycott of Israel is rapidly becoming a political issue in the U.S. In various House and Senate hearings last week, leaders of the Anti-Defamation League of B'nai B'rith and other Jewish groups offered some new revelations of how the Arab oil states are using their new economic strength. They testified that more than a dozen U.S. shipping lines have been quietly cooperating with the boycott by avoiding Israeli ports. Another charge: that commercial banks that act as agents for Arab countries have been requiring certificates of compliance with the boycott before issuing letters of credit to U.S. firms doing business in the Middle East.

Special Office. In the Senate, New Jersey Democrat Harrison Williams Jr. has introduced a bill that would empower the President to bar individual foreign investments of more than 5% in U.S. firms; investments by Arabs or, for that matter, anyone else participating in a commercial boycott would be prohibited altogether. Says New York Republican Jacob Javits, a strong proponent of the Williams bill: "These people [the Arabs] are trying to coerce Americans into discriminating against other Americans. In other words, they are trying to subvert the very foundations of our republic." Advocates of the Williams bill say that their target is the Arabs' "secondary boycott"--the economic pressure (through the blacklist threat) that is placed on U.S. companies not to trade with Israel. They argue that this makes the Arab boycott of Israel different from the trade embargoes imposed by the U.S. against Cuba and, not too long ago, China.

The Administration and many business leaders worry that a legislative assault on the Arab blacklist might frighten off badly needed foreign capital and provoke diplomatic and economic reprisals by Arab countries. One alternative favored by the White House: the creation of a special office to monitor and supervise all foreign investments in the U.S. Nevertheless, with active encouragement from the B'nai B'rith and other groups that make up the so-called Jewish lobby, a retaliatory mood seems to be growing in Congress: no fewer than 26 Senators lined up to sponsor a resolution calling on the Administration to take economic steps, such as cutting off technical assistance programs, against Arab countries that observe the boycott.

This file is automatically generated by a robot program, so viewer discretion is required.