Twelve Israeli lawyers visiting Washington have reported to Rep. Shirley Chisholm (D.NY) that her chief assistant in her Congressional office. Thaddeus Garrett. “upset and saddened us deeply” by his “ideas, views and opinions” about Jews, Arabs and the holocaust, according to correspondence made available today to the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The lawyers, who came here as guests of the American Bar Association’s exchange program with the Israeli Bar Association, asked the Congresswoman whether ideas expressed by Garrett “are shared by you, and if not, whether you are aware that Mr. Garrett expresses such views, in your office, allegedly in your behalf.” The letter was signed by E. Rubinstein of Tel Aviv for himself and his colleagues.
In their letter to the Congresswoman, the Israelis said that Garrett had “accused Israel of inhumane acts towards the Arab refugees,” that “only the Arab guerrilla activities come up in the press and TV because the press and the media are governed by Jews who are on the boards of directors of NBC, CBS, ABC and the major newspapers,” and referred to the six million Jews who were killed in the holocaust “as a fact which belongs to the past and should not be mentioned too often by Israel and Israelis.”
“We were astonished by the views Mr. Garrett expressed toward American Jewish leaders, mainly Jewish Senators and Congressmen who he referred to as being loyal only to Israel and not concerned about any American domestic affairs,” the Rubeinstein letter said.
CONGRESSWOMAN’S RESPONSE
When the Israelis did not receive a reply to their letter dated Aug. 8. a Washington lawyer Martin Lobel, sent a copy Sept. 4 to Rep. Chisholm. Answering Lobel’s letter, she replied Oct. 10 with a copy of her “Presidential Campaign Position Paper No. 2” on “the Middle East Crisis,” which she had distributed in her quest for the Democratic nomination for President in 1972.
The paper, she said, “delineates my humanitarian attitudes” towards the crisis. “The human misery and untold suffering of the people in that part of the world requires a more sensitive and sensible approach than a pro-Arab, pro-Israel or anti-Arab, anti-Israel rigid doctrinaire position.”
Without mentioning Garrett’s views, she declared, “No one speaks for me with respect to this touchy issue except insofar as to communicate my humanitarian approach to problems in the political arena which I understand is not always politically popular.” In another part of her response, Rep. Chisholm said that Garrett was “specifically called and invited by the American Bar Association to speak to the visiting group,” and that “he, himself, has travelled extensively throughout the Middle East on a number of fact finding missions.” Garrett himself was unavailable for comment.
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.
