Israel called yesterday upon the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization to intervene with the Soviet Government in an effort to end discrimination against Jews in that country, particularly in the field of education.
Addressing the general assembly here of UNESCO, Dr. Moshe Avidor, head of Israel’s delegation, deplored the lack of cultural facilities for Jewish children in the Soviet Union, which, he said, “starts by affecting young, defenseless children and ends by perpetuating inequalities, unhappiness and misery.”
Asserting that he was appealing “not out of recrimination but from deep anxiety and in the spirit of UNESCO’s principles,” Dr. Avidor urged that “whatever educational discrimination prevails in this respect ” in the Soviet Union “is an injustice that can and should be corrected.”
Meanwhile, preparations were being completed here today for a French national conference on Thursday, which will deal with the situation of Soviet Jewry. This conference will be attended by more than 50 prominent non-Jewish personalities, representing extreme left-wing although non-Communist factions. The meeting will aim at demonstrating to Russia’s new rulers that the anxiety over the fate of Soviet Jewry is not a form of the “cold war” but an interest felt by some of the best friends of the USSR.
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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.