The American Jewish Congress called on the United States government to veto if necessary any United Nations action aimed at restricting Israel’s right to develop Jerusalem. In a statement introduced by Judge Justine Wise Polier, chairman of the organization’s Committee on Israel, the AJCongress’ National Governing Council criticized as “malicious” the Security Council resolution on Jerusalem.
The AJCongress statement voiced “regret” that the US had Joined in supporting that part of the Council resolution which called on Israel to “take no further steps in the occupied sector which may purport to change the status of the city.” The Congress also criticized US failure to abstain from that part of the resolution which endorsed a 1967 resolution on Jerusalem, as it had done when the earlier resolution was first introduced. At the same time the Congress welcomed the statement by US Ambassador George Bush that Israel’s administration of the Holy Places had been “exemplary” and that the US would not approve the return to the city’s pre-1967 situation.
Bush, in his address to the Security Council, said the US supported the resolution, although it did not agree with every provision, in the belief that it was time to reiterate that nothing should be done in Jerusalem that would prejudice an ultimate peaceful solution. The AJCongress statement said that “the debate at the UN Security Council with its anti-Semitic attacks against Israel by the Soviet Ambassador and by Syria created a lynching mood directed against the integrity and future of Israel.”
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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.
