Rush Says Soviet Jewry Issue Will Be Raised by U.S. at Conference on European Security in Geneva

Kenneth Rush, Deputy Secretary of State, has given assurances to American Jewish leaders that the United States will raise the issue of Soviet Jews right to emigrate at the Conference on European Security and Cooperation which resumes its sessions in Geneva tomorrow. The top ranking official of the State Department also said that the U.S. will insist on Israel’s right to attend the conference as an observer if that right is accorded to Tunisia and Algeria.

Rush met with a delegation of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, headed by its chairman, Jacob Stein, at the State Department in Washington last Friday. Rush indicated that the U.S. will raise the issue of Soviet Jews in the course of discussions at the European Security Conference on means to facilitate the freer movement of peoples with special attention to the reunification of families.

Reporting on Friday’s meeting, Stein disclosed today that in a response to a statement by him urging the U.S. to oppose one-sided anti-Israel resolutions at the UN General Assembly, Rush noted that the U.S. has only one vote in the General Assembly. But he stated that the U.S. would veto in the Security Council any resolution calling for sanctions against Israel, Stein said.

ARAB THREATS TO NO AVAIL

On the issue of U.S. energy needs, Stein said Rush made it clear that American policy will not be affected by threats from foreign governments aimed at U.S. energy requirements. Stein said he urged the State Department to support a crash program of research and development that would lead to total independence by the U.S. in meeting its energy needs by 1978. He noted that similar crash programs had worked in the development of nuclear power and in the space race.

In addition to Stein, the Jewish leadership delegation included David Blumberg, president of B’nai B’rith; Richard Maass and Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson, chairman and co-chairman respectively of the National Conference on Soviet Jewry; Mrs. Rose Matzkin, president of Hadassah; Elmer Winter, president of the American Jewish Committee; and Yehuda Hellman, executive director of the Presidents Conference. Stein said the meeting, which lasted 90 minutes, was held in an atmosphere of “close understanding and cooperation.”