Office of the Historian

397. Memorandum of a Conversation, Department of State, Washington, October 28, 1956, 4:49 p.m.1

Washington, October 28, 1956, 4:49 p.m.

SUBJECT

  • Reported Israeli Mobilization

PARTICIPANTS

  • The Secretary of State
  • Mr. Alphand, French Ambassador
  • Mr. J. E. Coulson, British Chargé
  • The Under Secretary of State
  • Mr. Murphy, G
  • Mr. Rountree, NEA
  • Mr. Beam, EUR

The Secretary saw the French Ambassador and the British Chargé after they had left Mr. Murphy’s office.

The Secretary reiterated our great concern about the latest developments in Israel, referring to the President’s appeal to Ben Gurion. He mentioned that the timing of the Israeli mobilization was very ominous. The Israelis might be thinking that a number of factors offered a favorable opportunity to start military action: the Suez dispute, the situation in Jordan and the American elections. They might be counting upon our reluctance to take strong measures during the last week of the elections; if so, they were miscalculating. The Secretary assumed the UK still stood by its obligations under the Jordan treaty.

The British Chargé said he was convinced this was the case and that his government had said so several times.

The French Ambassador and British Chargé reiterated that they had had no information from their governments regarding Israeli mobilization measures of a kind similar to that in possession of the US Government. Mr. Coulson mentioned that his government had however made an inquiry in Tel Aviv concerning reports of military preparations, expressing its concern.

The Secretary said Israel was claiming that developments in Jordan were forcing it to mobilize. He observed that the Negev however seemed far less subject to attack than recently.

[Page 806]

The meeting ended with a brief exchange of information on latest events in Hungary.

  1. Source: Department of State, Central Files, 684A.86/10–2856. Confidential. Drafted by Beam. The time of the meeting is from Dulles’ Appointment Book. (Princeton University Library, Dulles Papers) At 9:06 a.m., October 28, Dulles spoke with Hoover over the telephone from Dallas “re the Israeli situation”. Hoover met Dulles on his arrival at the Miltary Air Transport Service terminal in Washington at 4:15 p.m., and they discussed the Israeli situation en route to the Department of State. Dulles spoke briefly with Hoover and Beam before the meeting with Alphand and Coulson. (Dulles’ Appointment Book; ibid.)↩