Catholic Bishop Urges UN to Reverse Its ‘deplorable’ Resolution Equating Zionism with Racism

Bishop James Malone, president of the U.S. Catholic Conference, has urged the United Nations General Assembly to reverse its “deplorable” resolution equating Zionism with racism.

This was the first time a U.S. Catholic Conference president had commented on the resolution since it was labelled as “unjust” by Joseph Cardinal Bernardin shortly after the General Assembly adopted the resolution on November 10, 1975.

Malone’s statement was issued from the conference office here prior to the opening Monday of the annual meeting of the National Conference of Catholic Bishops, which he also heads. He said he agrees with Bernardino’s statement in 1975 that the resolution “retards the necessary struggle against racism in the world and opens the door to harassment, discrimination and denial of basic human rights to members of the Jewish community throughout the world.”

However, Malone added that he also reaffirms “the principles of peace in the Middle East as put forth by the National Conference of Catholic Bishops in 1973 and again in 1978.”

He outlined these as a “comprehensive peaceful solution” with recognition by all of Israel’s right to exist; “recognition of the rights of Palestinian Arabs to participation” in negotiations for the future; “recognition of the ‘unique religious significance of Jerusalem’ through an internal guarantee of access to holy places and preservation of its ‘religiously diverse citizenry’; and affirmation of UN Resolution 242 as a basis for a just settlement.”

“The years since the deplorable UN vote on Zionism as racism and since the issuance of our own statements have served to increase the urgency of condemning the former and working toward realizing the principles enunciated in the latter,” Malone said.

A PROJECT IS CREATED

Meanwhile, the American Section of the International Association of Jewish Lawyers and Jurists has created the Project to Combat Anti-Semitism and Anti-Zionism (Project CASAJ) to actively oppose all manifestations of the “Zionism is racism” resolution. The project is aimed at educating both Jews and non-Jews on the issue.

At a forum at George Washington University Sunday, organized by the American Section and the George Washington University Hillel Foundation, Jeane Kirkpatrick, former United States Ambassador to the United Nations, said that resolutions should be introduced annually in the Security Council and General Assembly to repeal the anti-Zionist resolution.

Also participating in the forum were: Alan Keyes, Assistant Secretary of State for International Organizational Affairs; Allan Gerson, a Deputy Assistant Attorney General; Tova Herzl, a Congressional liaison officer for the Israel Embassy; and Yoram Dinstein, a law professor at Tel Aviv University, who is currently a visiting professor at the New York University School of Law. President Reagan sent a message to the forum in which he said he was proud that he and his two predecessors, Presidents Ford and Carter, had opposed the UN resolution.

He said it was a nonpartisan issue. Americans “have been united and will remain united in our commitment to Israel, in our conviction that Israel has a right to exist and a right to exist in peace,” Reagan declared.

‘A KIND OF WAR BY OTHER MEANS’

Kirkpatrick said that since the failure of the Arabs to defeat Israel in 1967 and 1973, there has been an effort to “undermine Israel by political means inside the United Nations.” She called this a “kind of war by other means.”

Keyes said the effort to deligitimize Israel was not aimed just against Israel or Jews but all those who support the Jewish State, particularly the U.S. He said beyond this it was aimed at those like Israel who believe in democratic principles.

But Keyes warned that the “Zionism is racism” resolution also was aimed at causing domestic dissention within the U.S., particularly at creating a split between American Jews and American Blacks.

CLASH OVER APPEARANCE BY TOURE

An example of this was at the University of Maryland, outside Washington, last Thursday night, when Jewish and Black students clashed over the appearance by Kwame Toure, formerly Stokely Carmichael.

The Jewish students objected to the Black Student Union inviting Toure since in a talk at the university last spring, he said the “only good Zionist is a dead Zionist.” During his speech Thursday night, Toure was heckled by Jewish students, and he called them “Zionist pigs” and said “Zionism is Satan in disguise.”