In a statement pointing out that the anniversary of the first Leningrad trial, Dec. 15, fails on Bill of Rights Day, Seymour Graubard, national chairman of the Anti-Defemation League of B’nai B’rith, called upon government officials to speak out against USSR harassment of Soviet Jews. At the same time, Graubard urged the Nixon administration to “take prompt steps to assure that the departments and agencies of the federal government carry out their civil rights responsibilities” at home.
Graubard said that Bill of Rights Day is a most appropriate time for reflecting on the plight of all oppressed people. He particularly cited Soviet Jews as a people “systematically robbed of their human rights and denied their lawful right to emigrate.” He declared that in this country the federal establishment’s “failure to implement and enforce the civil rights laws enacted by Congress over the past fifteen years, not only continues discrimination which has been declared unlawful, but also breeds discontent, disorder and disrespect for law.”
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.
