A dozen members of the House Foreign Affairs Committee have written to President Bush, protesting the government-sponsored tour of the United States by a group of Russian nationalist editors that includes three persons considered to be anti-Semitic.
The letter, initiated by Rep. Lawrence Smith (D-Fla.), also was sent to Bruce Gelb, director of the U.S. Information Agency, under whose auspices the tour is being conducted.
While expressing their general support for USIA exchange programs, the House members said the agency “made a gross error” in selecting persons known for anti-Semitic views.
“No matter how far the State Department tries to distance itself from the views of some of the visiting leaders, the mere presence of such leaders on the tour will be perceived as U.S. government acceptance and/or endorsement of their views,” the letter said.
The State Department had admitted knowing of the anti-Semitic views, but it argued that the purpose of the visit was to teach the participants “how the United States works as a multiethnic society based on individual freedom.”
Smith’s letter also was signed by Reps. Howard Berman, Barbara Boxer, Mel Levine and Tom Lantos, all California Democrats; Sam Gejdenson (D-Conn.), Robert Torricelli (R-N.J.), Ted Weiss (D-N.Y.), Edward Feighan (D-Ohio), Dan Burton (R-Ind.) Porter Goss (R-Fla.) and Benjamin Gilman (R-N.Y.).
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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.
