The American Jewish Committee disclosed today that it had protested to the Jewish Agency against the latter’s convocation of an international meeting of Jewish organizations to consider joint action on Soviet anti-Semitism. It complained that this had been done without prior consultation with the major Jewish organizations.
The protest, dispatched after postponement of the conference originally set for March 10 in Zurich, warned that “any step you may hereafter take of a similar nature without prior consultation will result in our refusal to participate.” Jacob Blaustein, president of the AJC, who signed the letter, added that “if the plan for holding the proposed meeting in Zurich is revived, our participation will depend on prior consultations as indicated above.”
A Jewish Agency spokesman said today that owing to the desire to convene the conference as quickly as possible, invitations had been sent out without prior consultation with other organizations. The response to the invitation, the spokesman said, certainly indicated the concurrence of the organizations. He pointed out that questions of agenda, procedure and other issues had not been pre-decided by the Jewish Agency but had been left for the organizations to decide in concert at Zurich.
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