Three major national Jewish organizations have sharply condemned anti-Zionist remarks made by Black activist Stokely Carmichael during an interview on the WABC-TV “Like It Is” program Sunday. Two of them have asked for equal time to rebut Carmichael’s statements.
Naomi Levine, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, who requested the right to appear on “Like It Is” “to respond to Carmichael’s vicious lies,” declared that it was “deeply regrettable” that WABC-TV “has seen fit to have as its guest on June 20 Stokely Carmichael, an incendiary revolutionary with anti-Semitic and anti-American views.”
Haskell L. Lazere, executive director of the New York chapter of the American Jewish Committee, wrote to Kenneth H. MacQueen, vice-president and general manager of WABC-TV requesting that “equal time should be given to provide your viewers with an opportunity to hear from responsible Black leaders and spokesmen.” He characterized Carmichael’s remarks as “an incitement to violence, murder and to the destruction of a member of the family of nations.” The Jewish Telegraphic Agency was unable to reach any WABC-TV official for comment.
Benjamin R. Epstein, national director of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League, expressed “deep concern and dismay, but not surprise” at Carmichael’s “parroting of anti-Jewish, anti-Israel propaganda” because he “has a long history of anti-Semitism and bitter hostility to Israel.” The ADL is not known to have requested equal time.
According to transcripts of the interview, Carmichael, who is chairman of the All African People’s Revolutionary Party, said “It is totally improper that the (U.S.) government should continue to send our tax dollars to Israel” and that “Zionists remain the primary supporters of the repressive South African regime and unjustly occupy land belonging to Egypt.”
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.
