American Jewish Committee Urges U.S. Jewish Groups to Revrain from Public Controversy

Members of the executive committee of the American Jewish Committee, meeting in Chicago during the past week-end, urged Jewish organizations to “refrain from engaging in open controversy in the public press because of the harm they do the position of Jews in the United States, ” it was revealed here today.

An A.J.C. announcement said the Chicago parley was attended by representatives of 28 major communities and was devoted primarily to the “problems created by the Jews of America by statements from Zionist and anti-Zionist groups which were giving the American public the impression that Israel was intervening in the internal affairs of American Jews and impugning their patriotism and loyalty.”

The “groups under discussion,” the announcement added, “were Israeli officials, leaders of the Zionist Organization of American and the American Council for Judaism.” The delegates at the meeting, reaffirming the A.J.C.’s position, noted that it is “regarded as axiomatic that the Jews of America, while having an abiding friendship for the new state and a sincere desire as Americans to aid in its development, have no political affiliation with the state of Israel.” The participants also “emphasized their unalterable opposition to any concept of world Jewish nationalism.”

The A.J.C. meeting, “reflecting the overwhelming consensus that the publicity of the American Council for Judaism is harmful and self-defeating,” adopted a resolution endorsing the position taken by the “administration of the American Jewish Committee with respect to the publicity of the American Council for Judaism.” The resolution also asked the A.J.C. officers to “continue their efforts to secure a cessation of the Council’s publicity methods.”

In another resolution the A.J.C. executive committee expressed “its satisfaction that the state of Israel and the Z.O.A, have clarified their objectives on a basis consistent with the fundamental principles that as a matter of course American Jews owe political loyalty to the United States, and only to the U.S., and that there should be no interference by the state of Israel in the life of American Jewry.”

The A.J.C. announcement revealed that it had “addressed a direct inquiry to the Prime Minister of Israel” regarding a statement attributed to him on Aug. 31 concerning the immigration of American Jewish youth to Israel which had raised some controversy in the Jewish community here as to the relationships between the community and Israel. The explanation the A.J.C. received was that the Premier’s statement had been misquoted by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.