Documents / FOIA release

Weekly Summary

Central Intelligence Agency · 1970-05-08 · 78 pages · text from the file's own layer

The CIA's Directorate of Intelligence issued this Weekly Summary, No. 0369/70, on 8 May 1970. It covers events through noon on 7 May. The Far East section deals with the allied operations into Cambodia, Hanoi's cautious response and the government in exile Sihanouk formed in Peking. Other items cover Soviet military aid, the Sino-Soviet talks, Jordan, Dahomey, Guatemala and Brazil, and a special report looks at Cuban support for subversion in Latin America. Many pages are withheld, and the summary contains no UFO material.

  • p. 27 …Egyptian President l\lasir’s May Day speech included an appeal to the US to force…
Approved for Release: 2023/03/28 C03154550
ISRAEL PROCEEDS CAUTIOUSLY WITH SOVIETS IN EGYPT
The Israeli Government has con-
tinued to express its concern over
what it claims to be growing Soviet
involvement in Egypt and has sought
to raise international alarm, par-
ticularly in the US. At the same
time, Tel Aviv, while avoiding at-
tacks deeper into Egypt and possible
contact with Soviet pilots, contin-
ued to mount heavy air attacks along
the canal and the Gulf of Suez. The
Israelis have restated their will-
ingness for a cease—fire and peace
talks, but have shown growing irri-
tation with the increasing number of
Israeli casualties along the canal.
These have been approaching the lev-
els of the summer of l969, which at
that time obliged Israel to step up
its attacks on Egypt.
Prime Minister Golda Meir and
two top Israeli military officials,
Minister of Defense Dayan and chief
of staff General Bar—Lev, have all
manifested Israeli reluctance to get
involved with the Soviets in Egypt,
but have emphasized Israel's de-
termination to fight to defend it-
self and to resist any attempts to
force them from the present cease-
fire lines. Mrs. Meir said that
Israel was not at war with the So-
viet Union and had no plans to fight
one "but we will not run away if it
(war) becomes necessary for self-
defense." Dayan, in a speech to
students in Haifa, said that Is-
raeli armed forces had had no air
clashes with the Soviets and hoped
they would not. He claimed that Is-
rael halted its deep penetration
raids around Cairo because "they had
served their purpose," but added——
perhaps more significantly——"now
that the Russians have entered the
area, we prefer to wait and see what
we shall be able to do." Reflecting
the Israeli desire for a solid show
of US support in the new situation,
Dayan said he would like to see the
US "as a real tiger with teeth...
stand up to the Russians." Dayan
also sounded what might be a warn-
ing when he charged that Soviet air
defense support was enabling Nasir
to seize the initiative along the
canal; he noted that the Israeli
casualty rate had jumped from 9
killed and 47 wounded in March to
27 killed and 62 wounded in April.
Bar—Lev, in a briefing given
to visiting US National War College
students, also stressed Israel's
current cautious posture. Asked
what Israel was going to do about
the Soviet pilots, Bar—Lev was non—
committal and said only that the
Israeli armed forces were gathering
all the information they could on
the Russians. He claimed that the
Soviet and Arab aim was to force a
peace settlement on Israel that
would put it back to the pre—June
1967 borders. The chief of staff
insisted that Israel would maintain
the status quo until there was a
chance for "real peace." Also pres—
ent was the Israeli director of mil-
itary intelligence, General Yariv,
who said that Israel did not take
lightly the international complica-
tions involved in the presence of
Soviet pilots and would exercise
caution. But he averred that Is—
rael would act to defend its exist—
ence and said what Israel needed
now was hardware, especially air-
craft, and a US "deterrent posture"
toward the USSR.
?E@'R'E%
Page 22 WEEKLY SUMMARY 8 May 70
Approved for Release: 2023/03/28 C03154550

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FOIA release, from the cia-readingroom collection. The PDF is mirrored here; the original link is above. 78 pages are in the text index: search them above, or from the library's search.