Azf Leader Says Jackson-vanik Bills Must Not Be Sacrificed by the U.S.

Declaring that the Jackson-Vanik proposed legislation that “would deny American credits and treatment as most favored nation to countries such as Russia, that impose restrictions on free emigration of its citizens was a moral issue to which the great majority of Americans subscribed,” Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the American Zionist Federation, said that as important as detente is, this principle should not be sacrificed in the bartering process.

Addressing the opening session yesterday of the National Board Meeting of the AZF, Rabbi Miller declared: “We are firmly convinced that a weakness by the Americans on the Jackson Vananik proposals would in the long run destroy the very aims of detente, and the mutual respect it must engender to be successful, that is basic to the policy of the U.S. Secretary of State and the American government.”

NIXON, KISSINGER PRAISED FOR EFFORTS

While praising Secretary Henry A. Kissinger’s efforts to improve relations between the United States and the Soviet Union as an important step towards world peace. Rabbi Miller stated “that the basic human right of free emigration as defined by the United Nations and the majority of nations of the world cannot be ignored by the American government, the Congress, nor the American people.” The Zionist leader expressed thanks and gratification to Kissinger “for what he has so far accomplished towards the establishment of peace in the Middle East. We are firmly convinced that the disengagement of Israel and Egypt is a most significant step towards peace. We are hopeful that you will be similarly successful in your efforts to arrange for a similar Israeli-Syrian disengagement.”

Calling attention to the reports of the recent killing of Jews in Syria, Rabbi Miller said that the United Nations and the United States must take steps to protect the 4500 Jews still living in that country. He also urged the “immediate exchange of the 65 Israeli POWs for the 250 Syrian POWs held in Israel, without the injection of the extraneous factor of the negotiations on disengagement.”

Rabbi Miller praised President Nixon’s statement in Chicago on Friday that the proposed lifting of the Arab oil embargo must not be conditioned on pressuring Israel to pull back its troops on the Syrian border. The AZF leader agreed with Nixon that such efforts would slow down the Israel-Syrian troop disengagement effort and be a barrier to affecting a settlement in the Middle East. A telegram was sent to Nixon urging that “with Syria threatening Israel’s northern flank that essential United States aid be continued, and that all conventional weapons in the American arsenal be made available to Israel so that it can maintain its defense capabilities.”