American Jewish Committee Urges U.S. to Act on Arab-israel Peace Talks

The American Jewish Committee, at the closing session of its 58th annual meeting, called on the U. S. Government today to use its influence to bring the Arab States and Israel to the peace table. A four-point resolution urged the U. S. Government:

1. To use its presence in the Arab countries to persuade them to recognize Israel as a full-fledged member of the family of Nations.

2. To continue its firm commitment to the right of Israel to its fair share of the waters of the Jordan and to leave no doubts in the minds of the Arab nations as to the depth of that commitment.

3. To provide Israel with the necessary physical means to insure a meaningful balance of arms vis-a-vis the Arab nations.

4. To continue a reasonable level of economic aid to Israel and to afford Israel adequate protection in its trade relations.

In addition, the Committee’s resolution urged the Government to make clear, “as a matter of official U. S. Government policy, our opposition to the boycott and restrictive trade practices presently being pursued by the Arab League and our determination to protect U. S. business concerns in their efforts to combat Arab pressures.”

Two other resolutions in the foreign area were also approved, one dealing with Germany, the other on the United Nations. On Germany, the Committee urged two points: first, that the Statute of Limitations on Nazi war criminals be extended to 1975, rather than to the end of 1969, as has been approved by the German legislature; second, that the West German Government “grant equal status” to Nazi victims from East Europe “under an extended Federal indemnification Law.” The resolution on the United Nations pledged the American Jewish Committee’s full support of the U. N. International Cooperation Year, especially in relation to the advancement of human rights.

ABRAM CHARGES ARAB GOVERNMENTS WITH SPREADING ANTI-JEWISH HATRED

Morris B. Abram, who was re-elected president of the American Jewish Committee, told the delegates at the closing session that “the Arab states, individually or through the collective force of the Arab League have spread their campaign of anti-Jewish hate.” One of the high priorities of the Arab onslaught, he said, has been given to a “massive undertaking which seeks to obstruct the adoption of the ‘Jewish decree’ by the forthcoming fourth session of the Vatican Council.”

Mr. Abram, who was recently appointed by President Johnson as the U. S. Representative to the United Nations Commission Human Rights, warned that both through propaganda and direct political pressure, Arab agents are operating on many levels throughout the world to advance anti-democratic and anti-Jewish ideology. He cited as an example a copy of a book recently obtained by the Committee entitled “For These Reasons I Hate Israel,” by Egyptian Colonel Amin Sami Al-Ghamrawi, which Mr. Abram described as “a 350-page unrelieved vitriolic and Nazi-like slander of the Jewish people.”

The book, which is receiving widespread distribution through the Arab world with the endorsement of the Egyptian Government, “delves extensively into the discredited forgery, “The Protocols of the Elders of Zion, “as a basis for anti-Semitic propaganda. At the same time, the Arabs are spreading other conventional anti-Semitic publications for both domestic and foreign consumption, including Hitler’s “Mein Kampf,” which is supplied to Egyptian army officers. Mr. Abram charged that anti-Semitism is part of the regular indoctrination given to the Egyptian armed forces.

“Currently, the most intensive aspect of the Arab campaign,” Mr. Abram charged, “is being leveled against Catholic leaders in the Ecumenical Council, aiming at the prevention of the adoption of the proposed decree which repudiates the ancient charge of collective Jewish guilt for the death of Jesus.” Arab campaign tactics include distribution of anti-Semitic books and pamphlets at the Council, pressure on Catholic and Protestant leaders in Arab countries with grave threats to the future of their Church school and social welfare institutions, and widespread propaganda aimed at Arab Christians, Mr. Abram reported.

ARAB ANTI-SEMITIC ACTIVITIES LINKED TO NEO-NAZIS IN EUROPE

Mr. Abram’s report linked Arab anti-Semitic activities to some of the operations and programs of the neo-Nazi movements in Europe. On this issue, Zachariah Shuster, director of the Committee’s European office with headquarters in Paris, made public an extensive report on the hundreds of neo-Nazi parties and splinter groups organized throughout Europe since the early fifties.

In his survey of neo-Nazi activities, Mr. Shuster reported that in West Germany, at the end of 1964, there were 119 extremist organizations, while more than 50 had been formed in Austria during the past ten years. Though neo-Nazi groups seem to be shrinking in strength, as the older generation is dying off, the strength of these extremist groups and parties, Mr. Shuster stressed, must be measured against the impact of their ideologies.