The United States was urged last night, at a B’nai B’rith convention held here, to take the lead, “together with all members of the United Nations, to reestablish immediately a U.N. presence” in the Middle East in place of the departed United Nations Emergency Force from the Egyptian-Israeli border.
The 2,500 delegates to the 115th convention of District 1 of the order urged that position in a unanimously adopted resolution. They also elected Eugene L. Sugarman, deputy controller of New York City, as president. Mr. Sugarman recommended the defeat of all efforts at the current New York State constitutional convention to revise or eliminate a constitutional clause, the Blaine amendment, which bars most forms of state aid to non-public schools.
Sen, Robert F. Kennedy, New York Democrat, told the convention that the United States must seek immediately to have a U.N. naval patrol sent to the Gulf of Akaba to protect Israeli transit through the Straits of Tiran. If that was not possible, he said, the United States should join with other interested nations to set up such a naval patrol. Benjamin R. Epstein, director of the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, said that if the American Jewish community wanted to end “the alienation of our youth, we must act more and preach less about the moralities of our society.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
