The policy committee of the Jewish War Veterans of America was given full authority by the JWV’s 62nd annual convention to decide on a boycott against the Shell Oil Company, it was disclosed today. The convention ended Sunday in Boston.
The resolution authorizing the policy committee to act was adopted at a Friday convention session, according to Benjamin H. Chasin, New York attorney who was elected new national commander and as such automatically becomes head of the policy committee.
Chasin said he would meet with officials at JWV national headquarters in Washington, D. C., Friday to set a date for the next meeting of the policy committee at which the boycott issue will be considered. He said the meeting would be held “in a month or so” probably in New York City.
BOYCOTT WOULD BE REPLY TO ARAB BOYCOTT
The proposed boycott would be in retaliation for the decision of the British-owned parent company to suspend sales operations in Israel, a move widely interpreted as a British yielding to Arab boycott pressures against Israel.
It was understood a JWV counter-boycott also would be in protest against alleged oil company concessions to Arab League efforts to extend the Arab boycott to American firms either owned by or employing Jews.
Chasin said that the decision on a JWV counter-boycott would depend on getting all pertinent facts on the Shell Company contention that the withdrawal decision in Israel was based entirely on “economic considerations.”
The new national commander emphasized that until the JWV was satisfied “as to the real reasons for the company’s action” in Israel, no action would be taken on the boycott issue.
Two efforts to obtain the facts directly from the company were reported by Abraham Kraditor of New York, a past national commander and chairman of the JWV Foreign Affairs Committee.
Kraditor said he and other JWV officials met in his Manhattan law office August 14 with a Shell Company representative who promised to provide complete facts within a few days.
At a meeting held in Boston Thursday evening after the regular convention sessions, the Shell official discussed the issues with a group of JWV leaders, Kraditor said, “but we were not satisfied.”
He confirmed reports that a number of JWV members had returned Shell credit cards to the company but he emphasized this was a voluntary action on the part of JWV members because the organization still had not acted formally on the issue.
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