American Jewish Committee Ridicules Society of Jewish Birchers

The formation of an organization of Jewish members of the John Birch Society, the Jewish Society of Americanists, was ridiculed in a statement issued here this weekend by Dr. John Slawson, executive vice-president of the American Jewish Committee.

“The formation of an organization whose sole purpose is to recruit for the John Birch Society from among members of the Jewish faith will attract the miniscule support it deserves, ” the statement said. “The fact that the Society deems it necessary to form such a group is testimony to its abject failure to attract Jews. Small wonder. Jews and Birchites have only in common the antithesis of their views. Where Birchism emphasizes conformity, Jews cherish diversity, where the John Birch Society is authoritarian in its structure, the Jewish community personifies a democratic structure. The foolish notion that Jews can be siren-songed into the John Birch Society evidences the larger want of rational thinking in the extremist camp. “