A resolution calling upon the Soviet Government to “open the gates so that their Jewish victims may find liberty and justice else. where” and pledging the cooperation of the Jews of the world in effecting the mass transfer of Russians Jews to the State of Israel, was unanimously adopted tonight at a mass pretest rally sponsored jointly by 31 national Jewish organizations at Manhattan Center, representing 3,000,000 members.
First mass demonstration of its kind since major Jewish groups banded together to fight anti-Jewish terror in Nazi Germany, the meeting charged the Soviet Union and its satellites “with pursuing a policy of defamation of the Jewish people and of the State of Israel to provide a scapegoat for internal disaffection; and of using anti-Semitism as a political instrument in their cold war against the democratic world.”
“We declare it to be our firm conviction that the Iron Curtain policy against the Jews is evidence of the steady moral decay of the Governments pursuing it, of their savage and utter disregard of the dignity and rights of man and of their determination to stamp out Catholic, Protestant and all racial minorities who cherish the right to conduct themselves in accordance with the dictates of their conscience, ” the resolution stated.
“If the rulers of Soviet Russia persist in exposing their Jewish citizens to humiliation, degradation and vilification, if they regard them as expendable members of their regimented society, let them lift the barr and open the gates so that their victims may find liberty and security elsewhere,” the resolution continued.
“The State of Israel, which has provided new life for the survivors of Nazism, has declared its readiness to welcome the victims of this new attack on the Jewish people; and the Jews of the world have pledged their cooperation to Israel in meeting its added heavy responsibilities. Regarding ourselves as our brothers’ keepers, we therefore demand that they let our people go,” the resolution concluded.
JEWISH AND NON-JEWISH SPEAKERS ATTACK RED ANTI-SEMITISM
Speakers at the rally included Governor Thomas E. Dewey of New York, who addressed the meeting by special telephone hook-up from Albany; Father George B. Ford, of the Corpus Christi Roman Catholic Church in New York; Dr. Israel Gold-stein, president of the American Jewish Congress; Berl Locker of Jerusalem, chairman of the Jewish Agency; Dr. Walter Van Kirk, executive director of the Department of International Justice and Goodwill of the National Council of Churches of Christ; Matthew Wohl, vice-president of the American Federation of Labor; Louis Lipsky, chairman of the American Zionist Council.
Louis Lipsky, who presided, told the meeting that “the horrible apparition of genocide has appeared on the horizon of the civilized world” and warned that Soviet anti-Semitism foreshadows the beginning of World War III.
The anti-Semitic campaign of Soviet Russia “is not the vital concern only of the Jews of the world and the Jews of the State of Israel, ” Mr. Lipsky said.”It concerns all free people. It is a vital interest of the democratic world. The attack upon the Jews goes hand in hand – in less odious forms – with the persecution of the Christian world, and of all minorities, and with the defense of democracy against an implacable enemy. The State of Israel is the outpost of democracy in the Middle East. Its resistance to totalitarian pressures is indispensable for the region of which it is a part.”
Dr. Van Kirk stressed that “this anti-Semitic madness has implications of disaster for the entire human race.” He pointed out that “wherever and whenever the rights of Jews are assaulted by dictators and despots, the rights and freedoms of all men everywhere are imperilled. No Iron Curtain can shut out the voice of. those who cry out against this manifestation of anti-Semitism. The God of history will see to that,” he declared.
LOCKER SAYS SOVIETS AIMING AT COMPLETE DESTRUCTION OF JEWS
Berl Locker, of Jerusalem, co-chairman of the Jewish Agency who is now on a brief visit to the United States, warned that the Soviet campaign against Jews “provides no alternative – allows no exit and permits no escape.” Pointing out that from its very beginning the Soviet Union had granted “rights to the individual Jew only at the expense of his group survival,” Mr. Locker said:
In recent months, the Kremlin has completely renounced the principles of erman-cipation for a price. Even the avenue of assimilation has been cut off. For surely Rudolf Slansky had long ago renounced his Jewish affiliation and yet was tried as a Jew. Historically, this adds up to one stark reality – the jew must vanish. That is the latest dictum from the Kremlin.”
Dr. Israel Goldstein, president of the American Jewish Congress, declared: “The protection and support of Israel, the only democracy in the Middle East, is an imperative obligation upon the Western powers for the sake of maintaining peace and stability in that part of the world. Israel has demonstrated its democratic character again and again. Yet is a tiny country, surrounded by hostile Arab neighbors who are threatening to destroy it.
“If the Soviet rulers have any vestige of a moral sense they should let Jews emigrate to countries which will offer them refuge – Israel and other lands, ” he concluded, emphasizing that “the poisoned arrows” hurled at Israel by Soviet Russia and its satellites point up the Jewish State’s credentials as a democracy.
Other speakers included Rep. Emanuel Celler; Rabbi Simon Kramer, president of the Synagogue Council of America; Benjamin Tabachinsky, national campaign director of the Jewish Labor Committee. (By the time the Bulletin went to press, the text of Goy. Dewey’s speech was not yet available.)
In a message to the conference, Senator Herbert H. Lehman said: “The events of recent days, including the Soviet rupture of relations with Israel, must show us that grave developments may be in store for all the free world. Againts these developments we must brace ourselves. We must prepare to aid in whatever way we can, the victims actual and potential, of the Soviet terror. We must be prepared to assist the little Republic of Israel against the threats which may soon confront her. In this and many other ways we must show our positive will to preserve : not only the security of the free world, but the very cause of freedom.”
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
