Israel was one of the first members of the United Nations today to sign the new International Convention for the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Intolerance. The instrument was opened for signature today in the office of Secretary-General U Thant. The Convention was adopted unanimously on December 21 by the last session of the General Assembly.
Ambassador Michael S. Comay, Israel’s permanent representative here, declared that the new Convention is “of emotional and historical importance to Israel. ” Pointing out that 90 percent of Israel’s population is composed of Jews “who belong to an ancient people which has been the classic victim of religious and racial bigotry for 20 centuries, ” Mr. Comay recalled the Hitlerian holocaust as he prepared to sign the anti-racist document.
At the same time, however, the Israeli envoy noted that the anti-racist instrument “does not refer expressly to anti-Semitism. ” During the debates leading to the adoption of the Convention, the United States, aided by Brazil, tried to add an amendment specifically condemning anti-Semitism among the racist trends in the world. That amendment was lost after the Soviet Union had presented a counter-move that would have equated anti-Semitism and Zionism with Nazism and neo-Nazism. As a result of the Moscow maneuver, it had been decided that no specific “isms,” except for apartheid, would be mentioned in the Convention.
Mr. Comay contended that, despite the defeat of the effort by the United States and Brazil, “during the debate at the General Assembly, it was accepted that the general provisions of the Convention embrace a condemnation of anti-Semitism as well. ” “Israel, ” he stated, “particularly welcomes the total rejection in the Convention of discrimination based on color. Whether directed against Jews, Negroes, or any other group, discrimination is indivisible and repulsive. “
In addition to Israel, the U.N. members which signed the Convention today were Byelorussia, Central African Republic, Greece, the Philippine Islands, Poland, Ukraine and the USSR. The instrument will go into force after a minimum of 27 states had acceded to it.
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