Abzug Urges Nixon to Raise Questions of Israel, Soviet Jewry, at Summit

Rep. Bella S. Abzug (D.N.Y.) today called on President Nixon to use his meetings in Moscow “to remind the Soviet government that the people of Israel and their government are determined to survive as a nation” and to “express the concern of the American people about the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union.” The Manhattan Congresswoman made her remarks in an address to a breakfast meeting of the Women’s Division of Bonds for Israel. The meeting marked “Sponsors Day,” during which participants purchased a minimum of $1000 worth of Israeli bonds.

Noting that Nixon will be discussing many vital issues, Mrs. Abzug stated that the President should also use his meeting in Moscow to remind the Soviet government that the people of Israel and their government are also determined to survive as a nation. “They will fight if necessary to guarantee that survival, although they would, of course, prefer to live in peace.”

VIETNAM AND ISRAEL WORLDS APART

The Congresswoman also expressed the hope that the President will express the concern of the American people about the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union. “Those who wish to leave the Soviet Union must be allowed to leave, without any impediments, and those who wish to stay must be assured of their freedom to worship as they please and to uphold and preserve Jewish traditions,” she said.

Referring to erroneous comparisons between the war in Vietnam and the cause of Israel, Rep. Abzug declared that the American people “have never had any difficulty in distinguishing between the immorality of our government’s support for a repressive one-man regime in South Vietnam and the morality of our support for the democratic government of Israel, which has a right to survive and must survive as a nation with secure and defensible borders. Israel has never asked us for soldiers because its people have the will and the capacity to defend themselves.”