David M. Blumberg, president of B’nai B’rith, and Lawrence Peirez, chairman of its personnel policy committee, have disclaimed the contents of a news story published last Thursday in the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Daily News Bulletin reporting that the organization would “take strict disciplinary action” against any member of its staff who takes a public position in opposition to organizational policy.
The JTA received the statement regarding disciplinary action in a news release on an official B’nai B’rith letterhead and printed it as received without any changes. The news release was received in the mail postmarked Washington. D.C., the headquarters of B’nai B’rith.
Blumberg said that the news release was fraudulent. “No such information was prepared or circulated by anyone in B’nai B’rith authorized to do so. The contents of the fake release are falsehoods and distortions,” he said. Peirez said that quoted statements attributed to him in the news release were “unauthorized, false and do not represent my views.”
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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.
