After his talks with the President and the Secretaries of State and Defense, Mr. Begin proclaimed that a "turning point" in Israel-American relations occurred when the U.S. agreed to a formal agreement on strategic cooperation. A day later, Defense Minister Sharon and Secretary of Defense Weinberger announced the creation of a joint working team to discuss strategic issues and means of dealing with Soviet expansionism in the Middle East. In the following excerpts from a press conference, Mr. Begin discussed this achievement as well as his views on the U.S. sale of A WACS to Saudi Arabia.
Mr. Begin was asked if the unprecedented strategic arrangement with the U.S. was a payoff for the Saudi arms deal.
Mr. Begin: First of all, I wouldn't say it is unprecedented. There was a very serious time of cooperation between Israel and the United States during the period of President Nixon, and the airlift to Israel. It was open for the eyes of the world. There was a very important action by the United States to help Israel - not with men, as I stressed then and now or in the future - we have to fight our battles if necessary - but with tools, and we needed in those days the tools. So I wouldn't say it's unprecedented, but it's important. As far as the other question is concerned, my friend, I can assure you, there is nothing in common with the problems of the AWACS and of the systems of the offensive power of the F-15, the double deal with Saudi Arabia, nothing in common.
Mr. Begin was asked if he wanted to send a signal to a half-dozen congressmen undecided over the AWACS deal.
A: My friend, I am a citizen of Israel. If a discussion goes on between the two branches of the American government, the legislative and the executive one, it is not for me to give signals to a congressman or a senator. I do not, I will not. I can only express, it is my duty to express, my opinion, as the Prime Minister of Israel and my other colleagues, and also our advisors and myself, put the case before the President in the cabinet room clearly in details: We told our American friends it is a danger to our national security. The President, the Secretary of State, the Secretary of Defense explained to us their point of view. Each side keeps to its opinion. I also here would like to say, and the President knows it very well, we are convinced that that double deal is a direct danger, a serious danger to Israel's security.
Mr. Begin on President Sadat's crackdown on political opponents:
They are enemies of peace, because they preach hate to every other religion, to every other nation. And we can have trust in a decision by President Sadat that he took those sharp measures when he reached the conclusion that it is a direct danger both to the Islam he believes, and he is a devoted religious man, and to the institutions which he introduced in Egypt and to peace.