Anti-Jewish activities by Soviet officials were described as “little things” by the First Secretary of the Soviet Embassy in Washington during a meeting with Rep. Leonard Farbstein, New York Democrat, the Congressman disclosed here last night.
Rep. Farbstein described the meeting with Anatoly G. Mishkov in an address last night to 200 leaders of the Farband Labor Zionist Order, in which he charged that “from all available evidence, it seems clear that the Soviet rulers are determined to wipe out Judaism as a religion.”
The Congressman said that the Soviet diplomat came to see him in the interest of establishing better relations with the United States. The Congressman told the Soviet diplomat that such better relations were impeded as long as Americans continued to hear reports of Soviet discrimination against Jews. He cited the many instances of synagogue closings, the arrests and trial of Jews on charges of black marketeering in matzohs and the spotlighting of Jewish defendants in economic crimes trials.
Rep. Farbstein said the Soviet diplomat then asked him if he would allow “these little things” to stand in the way of good relations and that he replied that “when you have many ‘little things’ of this nature, they turn into ‘big obstacles.'”
Louis Segal, General Secretary of Farband and a member of the executive of the Jewish Agency for Israel, who also addressed the conference of the Labor Zionist order, called attention to the fact that only last week Jews in Soviet Russia were forbidden to hold prayer meetings in private homes on Rosh Hashona, even though in many places no synagogue facilities were available.
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.
