Jewish Groups Hail, Black Caucus Statement Defending Israel

The Congressional Black Caucus was hailed for its pro-Israel resolution by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and the America-Israel Friendship League. ADL national chairman Seymour Graubard said he was “deeply gratified” by it and other expressions of support from Black leaders. The Black Caucus’ defense of Israeli sovereignty on March 21 followed an anti-Israel resolution passed during the closing minutes of the National Black Political Convention in Gary, Ind. on March 12.

The ADL, said Graubard, was “shocked and dismayed” by the Gary measure, “a totally baseless and one-sided statement aimed at dismemberment of the State of Israel” and reflecting the views of “anti-Semites, racists and extremists.” Saying he hoped the official Black Convention statement May 19 will not be as “hostile” as the Gary statement, Graubard declared: “ADL does not abide anti-Israel or anti-Semitic propaganda when it emanates from whites and we do not propose to adopt any different standard with regard to Blacks.”

PLEDGES JEWISH SUPPORT TO BLACK PEOPLE

Herbert Tenzer, a former Congressman who is national chairman of the America-Israel Friendship League, sponsored by Bnai Zion, the American Fraternal Zionist Organization, wrote to each of the 13 Black Caucus members with praise “for the sympathetic understanding you have manifested for Israel’s desperate struggle for survival.”

Noting “the grandeur of the sentiments voiced in your statement.” Tenzer said the Caucus’ vote was “expressive of the abiding sense of justice and sensitivity of the overwhelming majority of our fellow Americans in the Black community to the noble cause of a people who, like the Black people, were the victims of oppression and enslavement.” He added that “the American Jewish community will continue its unswerving support to the Black people in achieving its aspirations of true freedom, equality, self-respect and dignity.”