Three prominent American Jewish leaders had taken sharp issue today with the American Jewish Committee over a statement made by Herbert B.Ehrmann, AJC president, criticizing the disclosure of the Eisenhower-Khrushchev talks on the Russian Jewish situation and taking credit for the President’s action.
Philip S. Klutznick who, as chairman of the ad hoc committee of organizations, sought to establish an American Jewish representation to see the Soviet Premier during his visit here, told the board of governors of B’nai B’rith that the American Jewish Committee had “no monopoly of interest” in the plight of the Jews behind the Iron Curtain. He said it was “ridiculous” to withhold knowledge from the American Jewish community of Mr. Eisenhower’s action, particularly when the White House had no objection. He said if the publication was a breach, it had not been helped by the AJC statement “which boasts that it sent someone to see the President.”
In the course of his statement Mr. Klutznick disclosed that in the negotiations for a united representation, the AJC had made conditions for joining the ad hoc body, all of which “had been, substantially met”; that, if an appointment had been obtained with Khrushchev, an AJC member would have been a member of the delegation; that AJC observers had approved the statement released by the ad hoc committee after the Khrushchev visit “although their organization declined to become a party to it when it was finally released.”
Dr. Joachim Prinz, president of the American Jewish Congress, denounced the statement by Mr. Ehrmann as a “self-serving, intemperate attack.” He said the American Jewish Committee deplored efforts to establish a united representation, championing, instead, “private intervention made by members of the American Jewish Committee and their friends.” It was, he said, difficult to understand “why efforts of 21 organizations are called unwise while similar attempts by the American Jewish Committee are described as prudent.”
Label Katz, president of B’nai B’rith, which was singled out, by implication, in the American Jewish Committee attack, commented that “it is a sad commentary when noble purposes are distorted and sincere motivations are questioned.” He praised the American Jewish community for “the meaningful demonstration of unity shown by the ad hoc committee.”
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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.
