‘Oil squeeze may turn U.S. against Jews’

Press, Volume CXIV, Issue 33694, 18 November 1974, Page 10

‘Oil squeeze may turn U.S. against Jews’

'(N.Z. Press Assn-—Copyright) WASHINGTON. General George Brown, chairman of the United States Joint Chiefs of Staff, has suggested that a renewed severe Arab oil embargo might prompt Americans to become tough-minded enough to set down the Jewish influence and break the Jewish lobby. A Defence Department spokesman has said that during a public appearance last month, General Brown said, “Jews own the banks in this country and the newspapers. The Jewish lobby is so strong you wouldn’t believe how.” The General voiced the remarks in a question-and-answer .session after a speech to a Duke University law school audience in Durham, North Carolina. The “Washington Post” quoted General BroWn as saying, when asked about the remarks, that “It is : going to be awfully easy to j conclude, for anyone who 'wants to, that the chairman iis anti-semitic. That’s just mot true.”

Reached by telephone, (General Brown refused to i discuss the incident further.

The defence spokesman, asked whether the Defence Secretary (Mr James Schlesinger) had discussed the incident with General Brown, said, the secretary was aware of the remarks. General Brown’s comments on Israeli and Jewish influence came while he was responding to a question asking whether the United States was considering use of force against oil-produc-ing nations. The joint chief’s chairman said he hoped there would be no need for force and that no such moves were planned, although that possibility was conceivable. General Brown said, “You can conjure up a situation where there. is another oil embargo and people in this

country are not only inconvenienced and uncomfortable, but suffer, and they get tough-minded enough to set down the Jewish influence in this country and break that lobby.” Describing the strength of the Jewish Lobby, General Brown said: “We have the Israelis coming to us for equipment. We say we can’t possibly get the Congress to support a programme like that. They say, ‘don’t worry about the Congress. We’ll take care of the Congress’.” General Brown added, “They can do it. They own, you know, the banks in this country, the newspapers, you just look at where the Jewish money is in this country.” According to the “Washington Post”, General Brown said he had attempted to cover too. much ground in response to a complex, controversial question and "It just came out too damn poorly.”