The American Jewish Congress urged Attorney General Herbert Brownell today to use his statutory discretion to admit Jewish refugees from Egypt into the United States.
At an AJC executive committee meeting, Judge Justine Wise Polier, chairman of the executive, hit Mr. Brownell for clinging to a “double standard of morality” and refusing to admit as immigrants on a parole basis the Egyptian Jews as well as Hungarian refugees. Judge Polier further charged that President Eisenhower is “apparently unwilling” to recognize any tyranny except that of Communist governments.
In Washington yesterday three Republican Senators–Irving M. Ives and Jacob J. Javits of New York and Clifford P. Case of New Jersey–called on Mr. Brownell to take emergency action to admit a “reasonable number” of Egyptian refugees. In a letter, the Senators noted that the number of Egyptian Jews who had families i the U.S. and might seek entrance to this country is relatively small, “not over 5, 000” at the outside.
The AJC also asked the U. S. to “deal firmly” with Egyptian reoccupation of the Gaza Strip and continuance of belligerency and blockade against Israel. In a resolution, the organization urged action to uphold freedom of navigation for Israel through the Suez and Akaba waterways.
In another action taken at the meeting, the Congress renewed its appeal to the State Department to lift the travel ban to Israel. “The United States,” the appeal stated, “is the only country in the world that has imposed such a ban and continues to enforce it despite the existence of peaceful conditions within Israel.”
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.
