A United Nations subcommission voted today to give high priority to discussion of the worldwide outbreak of anti-Semitic manifestations despite the opposition of the British, French and United Arab Republic members of the body.
The Subcommission on Prevention of Discrimination and Protection of Minorities, a unit of the UN Commission on Human Rights, took the action on a petition of the International League for the Rights of Man, supported by the World Jewish Congress. Chile and Uruguay led the fight for the commission action which was carried by a vote of six in favor, one against, and five abstentions. Judge Philip Halpern. United States member of the commission, was not present at today’s session.
Dr. M. L. Perlzweig, representing the World Jewish Congress, warned the subcommission that the question was “urgent. ” It was, he said, “a matter of life and death in view of the activities reported from all corners of the earth. “
The Israeli UN delegation attended today’s session of the subcommission in the role of observers and made it known that it would follow the body’s activities for the duration of the session. Earlier, it had sent the subcommission’s chairman a copy of the statement the Israel Government is delivering to all nations with which it has diplomatic relations, warning of the dangers inherent in the present wave of anti-Jewish swastika smearing.
(At Bonn today, the Israel Government’s statement of concern over the recrudescence of anti-Semitic manifestations in West Germany and throughout the world, was delivered to the West German Foreign Office. Johanan Meroz, counsellor of the Israel purchasing mission submitted the note which was generally similar to that Israel is submitting to every country with which it has diplomatic relations, but it made clear that Israel did not hold the Federal Republic to blame for the events. )
POLICE SEE FASCIST GROUPS BEHIND ACTIONS IN SOME AREAS
The United Nations action unfolded today against a background of continuing reports of anti-Jewish manifestations all over the world and mounting indications that while the swastika smearings and acts of desecration might, in large part, be the isolated acts of “lunatic fringe” and crackpot elements, in many areas local neo-Nazi or fascist organizations were also at work.
In Johannesburg, police reported discovery of an anti-Jewish anti-Catholic organization with headquarters in Natal believed responsible for swastika daubing there. The “Kommandant General” of the organization was arrested.
A spot check made by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency Washington Bureau today established that police in some cities were taking a more serious view of the swastika epidemic.
Baltimore police expressed the view that defacement of 11 institutions in Baltimore over the weekend was the work of an organized anti-Jewish group. A carefully made swastika stencil was used. Police are operating under a theory now that anti-Semitic manifestations in Baltimore should not be dismissed lightly as a “hula-hoop” fad of schoolboys. They are seeking to link a local underground anti-Semitic group with a group that is attempting to establish itself nationally.
NATIONAL ORGANIZATION AT WORK IN JACKSONVILLE
Jacksonville, Florida police made known today they have evidence pointing to a national anti-Jewish organization. It was apparently uncovered in the probe of the defacement of Jacksonville synagogues.
Police in College Park. Md, . site of the University of Maryland, said anti-Jewish activities there in recent days appeared to be the work of an “outside” organization rather than a campus prank. Adherents of the so-called “American Nazi Party” circulated anti-Jewish material on the campus. Tracts on “The Story of George Lincoln Rockwell and the American Nari Party” were distributed to students. Distribution was made near dormitories.
Citizens over a wide area of the Maryland suburbs of Washington, D. C., reported receiving similar propaganda in recent days.
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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.
