Favorable Ecumenical Council action on a definitive declaration exonerating the Jewish people of the ancient charge of deicide could help arrest the growing tide of anti-Semitism, in South America, Morris B. Abram, president of the American Jewish Committee, said today. He based his statement on a summary he made at a press conference today of the results of a three-week, 15,000-mile study made by leaders of the AJC in four Latin American countries. During the mission, the leaders conferred not only with highest government leaders, including presidents and foreign ministers, but also with leading Catholic prelates, including cardinals.
In visits to six major cities in Argentina, Brazil, Chile and Peru, Mr. Abram said, the mission noted that extremist elements, especially in Argentina, were active in trying to stir up religious prejudice against Jews. He said that distinguished Catholic religious leaders in all four countries had “expressed great interest in the delegation’s mission, and indicated their support for the decree on the Jews which is expected to be on the agenda of the Ecumenical Council” opening September 14 in Rome.
Stressing the gravity of the situation in Argentina, Mr. Abram said that the 450,000 Jews of that country feel more insecure today than they did six years ago, when another AJC delegation visited South America. “While we do not doubt the good will of the Argentine leadership in Government, of the Catholic Church and of the press, their techniques in opposing anti-Semitism are ineffective,” Mr. Abram declared. He said that, although the Argentine penal code outlawed by name the anti-Semitic Tacuara and Guardia Restauradora Nacionalista organizations in May 1963, “there has been a proliferation of such groups, and increased violent activities, with ineffectual enforcement of the law.”
The AJC leader said that more than 150 incidents of violence against Jews involving death, bombings and other outrages have been reported in the last three months without any arrests and with minimal exposure in the press. Some members of the Argentine Chamber of Deputies, he noted, have publicly questioned the patriotism of Argentine Jews and the propriety of Jewish members of the Chamber serving in such national positions. He said that one deputy has even proposed an investigation of “Zionist” activities in the country.
SEES ARGENTINA AS DEMOCRATIC; WARNS AGAINST ARAB AGENTS
Mr. Abram stressed that Argentina was a democratic country, not ordinarily given to violence. For that very reason, he said, the increasing incidents of violence toward Jews were of serious significance. He emphasized the importance of Government and church leaders taking affirmative action to deal with the potentially explosive situation.
“If economic conditions continue to deteriorate as they have been doing in Argentina, Brazil and Chile, “Mr. Abram declared, “reactionary elements from within and outside the South American continent would find it relatively easy to use the Jews as scapegoats.” This was especially true, of Argentina, where the situation “is potentially grave because neo-Fascists have been encouraged and financed by agents of the Arab League.”
These agents, he said, “are spending enormous sums of money to set group against group and divide the Argentine people. They have adopted the outworn cover of anti-Zionism as a way of expressing anti-Jewish sentiments, and are using this tactic in an attempt to promote hatred against the Argentine Jewish community, as well as against other Jewish communities in South America.”
He noted that Jews and Arabs have lived harmoniously together in Argentina, and that these new tensions are the result of Arab League provocation. He said the efforts by agents of the Arab League had apparently failed so far in Brazil, and that they were completely ineffectual in Chile and Peru.
With the exception of Peru, Mr. Abram said, widespread inflation, rising prices and unemployment were creating unrest among the poorer elements of the population in some places, and this aided the causes of extremists of various political shadings. The government leaders, he added, were in a race against time to deal with these conditions, and some are facing determined and vicious attacks from extremists.
FINDS CRITICAL SHORTAGE OF RABBIS; SUGGESTS AID FROM U.S. JEWRY
The delegation, Mr. Abram declared, found a “critical shortage of qualified rabbis, teachers, social workers, youth leaders and other professional persons whose services are greatly needed by Jewish communities everywhere in South America.” Aid in these areas, he stressed, could only come from the United States, since most of the communities needed the non-Orthodox religious leaders and educators, who are not available in Israel.
The Jewish communities in South America, he added, were determined to make democracy work in their countries, and deserved all the assistance the American Jewish community could provide.
Members of the delegation in addition to Mr. Abram were: Harris Berlack of New York, chairman of the AJC’s foreign affairs committee; Philip I. Berman of Allentown, Pa., member of the organization’s executive board; Martin Gang of Los Angeles, member of the board of governors. Richard Maass of White Plains, N.Y., vice-president; Joseph Ross of Detroit, vice-president; Theodore Tannenwald, Jr., of Scarsdale, N. Y. chairman of the committee on Israel; Dr. Simon Segal. director of the AJC foreign affairs department; and Mrs. Hanna F. Desser, AJC Latin American specialist.
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.
