President Eisenhower would be called upon to terminate within a year any existing agreement with a foreign nation which discriminates against U.S. citizens on a religious basis under a proposed House resolution referred today to the House Foreign Affairs Committee.
The measure is pending before the committee. It may be assigned to a subcommittee for hearings. The resolution would have the President proclaim to all nations that the United States regards religious discrimination against American citizens incompatible with relations that should exist among friendly nations. The target of the resolution is the barring by Saudi Arabia of U. S. air force personnel of Jewish faith from the Dhahran airbase.
Identified as House Concurrent Resolution 211, it was introduced by Rep, Henry S. Reuss, Wisconsin Democrat. An identical measure is sponsored by Rep. Sidney R. Yates, Illinois Democrat. Rep. Reuss said today the House Foreign Affairs Committee should act promptly “so that the sense of Congress may be unequivocally expressed in protest against our government’s failure to defend the rights of its citizens. “He referred to Saudi Arabian anti-Jewish measures and said: “This shocking discrimination against U. S. citizens has existed since 1951. and despite the pious words of the State Department, no effective protest was made even this year when our air base agreement was renewed.”
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.
