Issue with the Soviet stand against Israel, as expressed by Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin at the United Nations General Assembly, was taken here today by the Morning Freiheit, the American Jewish pro-Communist daily. In an editorial, the newspaper asked the leaders of the Communist countries “to support the rights of Israel” and urged them to see to it that the inciting speeches at the United Nations should not lead to a wave of anti-Semitism.”
The reference to anti-Semitism dealt indirectly with Premier Kosygin’s comparing the Israelis to Nazis. The editorial also criticized the public statement made in Warsaw by Wladislaw Gomulka, head of the Communist Party there; that Jews in Poland must not display sympathy to Israel because Poland would not tolerate a “fifth column” within the country.
The editorial, entitled “The Soviet Union and Israel,” noted that today, June 22, is the anniversary of the date in 1941 when Nazi Germany invaded the Soviet Union. The Freiheit compared Israel’s defense against the Arab war makers with the USSR’s defense against Nazi Germany. It asked why the USSR, which had boasted that it had helped in the United Nations in the creation of Israel, did not take the next step by calling on Arab delegations to stop calling Israel the “aggressor.” Instead, the newspaper noted, the Soviet representatives at the U.N. charged Israel with being the aggressor, and compared Israel’s actions with Nazi atrocities.
The editorial pointed out that Mr. Gomulka had helped increase anti-Semitism in Poland by accusing Polish Jews of disloyalty to their country, declaring that the Polish masses would thus be encouraged toward anti-Semitic attitudes although the Warsaw Government itself is not anti-Semitic.
“We are for the fact that Israel should live,” stated the editorial. “We are for the entirety of the whole State of Israel. We are for the territorial integrity of Israel and for recognition of Israel by her neighbors. The Socialist lands must support the right of Israel to live and must oppose the incitements to anti-Semitism through the attacks against Israel at the United Nations.”
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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.
