Leaders of major Jewish organizations issued statements today vigorously defending Israel’s raid Sunday on Iraq’s nuclear reactor and assailing critics of the attack for forcing Israel to act when other countries failed to do so.
Howard Squadron, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said it was not Israel, but “those Arab states — including Iraq — that persist in proclaiming themselves at war with a ‘Zionist entity’ they have pledged themselves to liquidate” which should be condemned.
Declaring that Iraq had made no secret “of its intention to use the nuclear capacity it was acquiring, against Israel,” Squadron said the western countries that supplied Iraq with the material to produce nuclear weapons “disregarded Israel’s expressions and warnings.” He asked how anyone could be surprised “that Israel felt obliged to act in its own defense.”
Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson, chairman of the American section of the World Zionist Organization, said that the Arab-Third World-Communist bloc, expecting Israel or the United States to stand by “helplessly” in the threat to Israel’s survival, is “shocked” by an action “that prevents an assassin from carrying out his mission.”
Citing the helplessness of the Jews in Nazi Europe, she said “this time, the Jews of Israel had a choice — to act on the truth of Iraq’s own words that ‘the Iraqi nuclear reactor’ was intended to be used against ‘the Zionist entity.’ Israel had no recourse” and “had every moral right” to knock out the reactor.
Rabbi Joseph P. Sternstein, president of the American Zionist Federation, criticized the State Department’s “quick condemnation” of the raid, and asked “Is Israel to be consigned to a never-ending stream of advice and withhold action even when her vital interests are at stake?”
He too cited the statement by President Saddem Hussein of Iraq, in Oct. 1980, that the Baghdad reactor “was being built solely for use against the Zionist enemy.” He said the Reagan Administration “should thank Israel for taking decisive action against the malevolent Iraqi regime.”
Ivan J. Novick, president of the Zionist Organization of America, stressed “the realism of the situation” which was that “Iraq has never signed a cease-fire agreement” with Israel and considered itself in a state of war with the ‘Zionist entity.'” Novick declared that until the Arab states recognized Israel’s right to live in peace in the region, Israel “cannot be expected to ignore what it conceives to be mortal dangers.”
Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, declared that “thanks to the bravery and skill of Israel’s airmen, the Middle East is no longer threatened by nuclear war.” He added that Israel acted in self-defense “against a nuclear installation intended for her destruction.”
He charged that Israel once again has become “the victim of the world’s double standards of morality.” Referring to the Soviet missiles in Cuba in 1962 and President Kennedy’s naval blockade, Rabbi Schindler declared that “if it is proper for Goliath to protect itself against a David, is not David to be allowed to defend himself against Goliath?”
Rabbi William Berkowitz, president of the Jewish National Fund, said Israel has been the victim, not the aggressor in the long Arab-Israeli conflict. He called the raid “a supreme act of self-defense” which he said he was certain would be “justified by history.”
Maynard Wishner, president of the American Jewish Committee, declared that possession of an atomic bomb “by an aggressive, terrorist” Iraq “would constitute a threat to the stability of the entire Middle East as well as a mortal danger to the existence of Israel.” He declared that “the target for condemnation” should be “the lack of international safeguards for the control of nuclear weapons” rather than “Israeli actions clearly necessary for her own defense.”
Nathaniel Saperstein, president of the National Council of Young Israel, declared that “Israel used just the right amount of military force” against the Iraqi reactor, “against a sworn enemy bent on defying international law to intimidate and hopefully destroy the Jewish state.”
Nathan Perlmutter, director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, said, “Entebbe saved 103 lives. The Israelis now may have saved untold numbers of lives. Surely all concerned with nuclear proliferation will applaud this action.”
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.
