December 23, 1960: On Israel and the Bomb

Arthur Krock concludes his column in today's New York Times about suspicions Israel is developing an A-bomb by writing, "The Arab world is agitated with alarm over the possibility of an Israel armed with nuclear weapons. And the Soviets have seized a perfect opportunity to foment the trouble both ways: by playing on Israeli nationalism, to which it pretends to believe the United States has given just offense; and by arousing the Arabs.

"But Israel too has a perfect opportunity -- for a constructive action which will cancel the damage and Moscow's effort to increase it. Israel can conform to the spirit of Chairman McCone's offer at Vienna by placing under the present and future safeguards of the [Atomic Energy] Agency the reactor it is building. That would assist in the pursuit of world peace the United States, the nation which has given the most generous assistance to Israel's economy."