Freiheit Editor Affirms Pro-israel Stand Despite Communist Attacks

The Morning Freiheit, a left-wing Yiddish daily, is at odds with the U.S. Communist Party which has criticized it and another left-wing publication, Jewish Currents, for supporting Israel in a “war of aggression” against the Arabs and for its alleged “obsession with black anti-Semitism.” The Freiheit was defended against both charges by its 77-year-old editor, Paul Novick yesterday at the publication’s 47th anniversary concert in Town Hall. Mr. Novick, who once faced Federal denaturalization proceedings for alleged Communist affiliations, declared that his paper was “against all slogans and individuals that are anti-Semitic but not against the Negro people.” He said the Freiheit’s policy was to continue fighting for full equality for Negroes.

He drew an ovation from the 1,400 people at the concert when he said “Israel is hero to stay and its existence is in the interest of all progressive nations.” Mr. Novick described the Freiheit as not a Communist organ but a newspaper “that fights for all the people in their quest for peace throughout the world.” His paper and the magazine Jewish Currents were also accused by the Communist Party of maintaining a “critical and carping attitude toward the Soviet Union.” Questioned about Soviet hostility toward Israel, Mr. Novick said only that “Jews occupy high positions in the Soviet Union.”