Begin, president Cabinet, calls for new Soviet ties

Prime Minister Menachem Begin presented his new hard-line Cabinet to parliament with a wide-ranging speech that included an unexpected call for renewed relations with the Soviet Union. He also called on the US to end its embargo on F-16 jet fighter plane deliveries to Israel.

"We want normalization of relations between us and the Soviet Union," Mr. Begin said. But he said Moscow must first agree to free all jailed Soviet Jews and allow free imigration of Jewish citizens. The Soviet Union broke diplomatic relations with Israel after the outbreak of the 1967 war and has been the major supplier of weapons to the Palestine Liberation Organization, S yria, and other so-called frontline Arab states.