U.S. policies in the Near East must be channeled within the framework of basic U.S. national interests and strategy, Dr. Harry D. Gideonse, president of Brooklyn College, declared yesterday addressing a meeting here held under the auspices of the American Council for Judaism. “Our policies concerning Palestine simply cannot be evaluated exclusively in the light of the new state of Israel,” he said. “These must hang together in some coherent pattern that makes sense from a standpoint of the national interests of America as a whole, including the interests of Americans of Jewish faith.
“In a world in which all political and economic problems are interwoven,” asserted Dr. Gideonse, “the basis of United States diplomacy must always be to insure secure positions abroad in order to avoid bringing war into our own country. The protection of a regular source of supply of strategic materials in the Middle East is a critical matter for the United States.
“In my judgment, Zionist objectives can only be achieved in the long run if they are formed within the framework of a policy which is generally adjusted to the needs of American diplomacy,” he said. “Unless moderation and restraint are exercised “the results night well be that a movement designed as on escape from anti-Semitic intolerance might ultimately accentuate it.”
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.