Sharp criticism of Administration policy for "ineptness" in Middle East affairs and "woeful lack of national leadership" in the area of civil rights was expressed today in a report issued to delegates at the national biennial convention of the American Jewish Congress which opens tomorrow at the Carillon Hotel here.
Isaac Toubin, American Jewish Congress executive director, charged in a report to the convention that the United States has failed to develop a policy that would offer "an alternative of hope to the millions of disenfranchised Arabs suffering under the burdens of militaristic dictatorship." This failure, he said, had contributed heavily to the "rising influence of Soviet Russia" in the area.
On the domestic scene, the Congress leader declared that "the moral impact of the 1954 Supreme Court decision outlawing segregation has been blunted" by failure of the executive branch to take a forthright stand supporting the general goals of ending all forms of racial and religious discrimination and segregation."
In his report to the delegates, Mr. Toubin commented that "oil, potentates and power, rather than democracy, people and peace" seem to be the decisive factors in the Middle East thinking of both the U.S. and Russia." U.S. insistence on an Israel-Arab peace and an offer of a comprehensive plan of economic development for all those who agree to maintain that peace would change the Middle East picture, be insisted.
"Who indeed," he said, "has in the best interest of the United States urged such a patriotic program upon our country–the Zionists and friends of Israel or those self-haters who have libeled Zionists as dual loyalists?"
More than 500 delegates from all parts of the country were assembling here today for the convention which will continue in session until Sunday, the first national convention held by the organization outside New York. The delegates will elect a new president Sunday to succeed Dr. Israel Goldste in who has led the organization since 1952.
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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.
