A large bipartisan bloc of Congressmen have protested in a letter to the U.S. Olympic Committee that the Soviet Union and its Third World allies are engaged in a process to prevent Israel from competing in the Olympic summer games in Moscow in 1980.
Eighty Congressmen, 45 Democrats and 35 Republicans, have signed a letter originated by Rep Jack Kemp (R. NY) and mailed to Robert Kane, president of the Olympic Committee in New York.
In a floor speech last week in the House, Kemp said that “a combined Soviet-Third World campaign is now underway” against Israel by reducing Israel’s membership in the 26 Olympic Federations to less than five, the minimum required for national participation.
To participate in Olympic Games, a nation must belong to at least five Federations, kemp noted. “The Israelis do not belong to all 26 Federations to start with because they do not field teams in all events, especially the winter sports. Under pressure from the Soviets and from Third World nations, the Israelis are being forced out of these Federations one by one, and usually on a technicality never otherwise applied. The goal? To have the Israelis down to less than five Federations by 1980.
Kemp told the Congress that “When the final crunch comes, the weapon against the Israelis will be the outrageous United Nations vote equating Zionism and racism.” He said “Third World delegates can be expected to show up at all the Federation meetings with the UN resolution in hand, demanding the exclusion of Israel on those grounds. South Africa was excluded from the Olympics on the grounds of racism as expressed in a similar resolution.”
CONGRESS URGED TO ACT
Saying “the soviet and their cohorts intend to politicize the sports just like they have tried to politicize everything else,” kemp said, “the Congress of the United States cannot sit idly by and watch this happen, for the attempt may be successful if the U.S. leadership is not shown and shown early.”
The letter to Kane calls on his committee “to undertake every measure possible to convey this sentiment to the International Olympic Committee.” It warned that “popular and financial support for the Olympics will collapse should this exclusion be perpetrated” and that “Congress might not act favorably upon” pending legislation to provide assistance to the U.S. Olympic Committee’s participation in future games. “The U.S. Olympic Committee can and should be a powerful influence in halting the exclusion of Israel if it commits itself to such a course and pursues it vigorously,” the letter said.
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