Three Soviet students, on a tour of American college campuses, were hissed and booed yesterday when they criticized Israel and referred to Its “war of aggression” during a debate at Kirkland College in Clinton, NY. The Russians were debating three students from Kirkland and Hamilton colleges.
Meanwhile, the University of Maryland cancelled a debate that was to have been held there last night between the Russian visitors and U. of Maryland students. The university said the debate was cancelled because of “unsettled campus conditions.” About 300 students demonstrated yesterday on the campus against the renewed bombing of North Vietnam and on Tuesday night more than 1000 staged a protest rally.
The Jewish Defense League claimed, however, that it was responsible for canceling the debate. Dr. William G. Perl, head of the JDL’s Washington office, told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency that the JDL had warned the office of Dr. Charles E. Bishop, Chancellor of the university, that the debate could lead to “possibly dangerous protests” if it took place. The tour of the Soviet students, sponsored by the National Speech Communications Association, a private organization in New York, is a project to discuss “How Might The US and the USSR Contribute to the Cause of Peace.”
KGB AGENTS, NOT STUDENTS
According to Dr. Perl, “this whole debate is a fraud. These are not student debaters but professional government employes. They are KGB agents trained for years in the art of deception and propaganda. Because of their professional status they should be barred from legitimate collegiate debates.” The three students are between 25 and 35 years old.
The itinerary of the Soviet students places them in smaller communities and campuses where there are relatively few Jews. Their tour is unlike that of the Soviet group last year that visited major American cities and were rebuffed by the Jewish communities. There is some indication that the tour of the Soviet students was planned to prevent a repetition of last year’s fiasco.
A chair in the cultural history of Moroccan Jewry will be established at Tel Aviv University. The project is an outgrowth of the recent World Congress of Moroccan Jewry
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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.
