American Jewish Committee Charges Morocco with Anti-jewish Action

Charges that anti-Jewish action in Morocco is growing were voiced here today by Herbert B. Ehrmann, president of the American Jewish Committee, addressing the Committee’s executive board meeting at the Shoreham Hotel. He said that two anti-Jewish trends were evident in Morocco today–the elimination of foreign Jewish organizations and mistreatment of Moroccan Jews. He also reported increasing discrimination in Morocco against Jews in employment.

Mr. Ehrmann urged the U. S. Government to support a plan submitted by United Nations Secretary General Dag Hammarskjold to deal with the Arab refugee problem with a view to have to have them eventually absorbed by Middle East countries. He called on the U. S. “to refuse to countenance the tactic of utilizing the plight of the Arab refugee as a political weapon and a means of political maneuvering. ” Mr. Ehrmann also scored Egypt for “denying Israel freedom of passage in the Suez Canal. “

The American Jewish Committee president criticized the publicity given by Jewish organizations to the hoped-for meeting with Soviet Premier Nikita Khrushchev. Emphasizing that his organization had been against premature publicity, he said that the AJC had been invited by the other Jewish organizations to join with them in the effort to arrange a meeting with the Premier. However, he added, the American Jewish Committee made it a condition that the talks with Khrushchev should be limited to the question of discrimination against Russian Jewry and should emphasize the problem of equality of rights in the fields of religion and culture.

“In line with this approach, we suggested that the delegation should consist of representatives of American Jewish organizations whose main purpose is to protect the rights of Jews and human rights generally and should not include persons who were identified as being primarily interested in promoting Zionist aims, ” Mr. Ehrmann reported. “The reason for making this condition basic to our cooperation is obvious–Khrushchev’s hostile attitude toward Israel and Zionism and his suspicion of representation in behalf of Russian Jewry as efforts to remove Jews from Russia to Israel.

Mr. Ehrmann also reported that President Eisenhower had been approached, at the suggestion of the AJC, about two weeks prior to Mr. Khrushchev’s visit to the U.S., by one of the most important public figures in the United States, himself a Jew, with regard to the treatment of Jews in Russia and he was informed by the President that he would bring up the problem of Russian Jewry with Mr. Khrushchev should the opportunity present itself.

“But, all this was done on a strictly confidential basis, ” the president of the AJC emphasized. “The recently widely publicized statement of the role of a certain national Jewish agency in President Eisenhower’s intercession with Mr. Khrushchev is, in our view, harmful to the cause of Russian Jewry because it may give the impression to the Soviet leaders that important American personalities on their own are not concerned with the problem, and that they have to be prodded by Jewish organizations. This impression is unfair to the persons who have discussed the issue with Mr. Khrushchev. “

ISRAEL AMBASSADOR ADVOCATES REGIONAL DISARMAMENT IN MIDDLE EAST

Israel Ambassador Avraham Harman, speaking at the AJC meeting, called for consideration of regional disarmament schemes, with appropriate guarantees, to safeguard Middle Eastern peace. He said a regional disarmament based on renunciation of force and signing of non-aggression pacts would remove tensions and promote social and economic development.

“Peace-making is a process and not a one-time act, ” he stressed. “To keep this process moving there must be a reciprocal will for peace which must reflect itself in both negative and positive action. There must be abstention from actions which increase tension and a positive desire to move forward step by step, from agreement to agreement. “

Mr. Harman emphasized that “Israel stands ready at all times to negotiate any agreement on any issue and it would regard non-aggression pacts leading to agreed regional disarmament as a suitable starting-off point for the peace process which is desired. The will to peace can only express itself in direct communication between states, ” he said.

(In an interview with the New York Times correspondent in Israel this week-end, Premier David Ben-Gurion said that Israel will strive with every means at her disposal for general disarmament throughout the Middle East. ” We will be ready at any time for mutual inspection, ” he declared. “We will ask for disarmament in any form available to us, and we will make it clear to the Egyptians that they can come and see that we have done it.”)

Chancellor Konrad Adenauer, in a message to the American Jewish Committee, said that West Germany and its states were waging an “uncompromising” battle against anti-Semitism through the “administration, the courts, press, radio and private associations. ” The message made public at the committee’s executive board meeting, said that “anti-Semitic, anti-democratic phenomena have come to the surface in Germany, but that they should not be over-estimated.”