Chanting slogans and carrying signs denouncing anti-Semitism in Argentina, 100 people picketed the American Jewish Committee building and the offices of its publication, Commentary, yesterday. They were protesting what they perceived as Commentary’s and the AJCommittee’s failure to acknowledge the seriousness of the problem of anti-Semitism in Argentina, and their unwillingness to take an agressive stand against it. The protesters were particularly concerned with Commentary’s support of the Reagan Administration’s foreign policy, and its support of right-wing military regimes such as that in Argentina. No one at the AJCommittee was immediately available for comment in response to inquiries by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency.
The rally was prompted by the current debate within the Jewish community over Jacobo Timerman’s book “Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number,” which alleges widespread official anti-Semitism in Argentina. The demonstration was initiated by the Jewish Socialist Bund-Tsukunft, and endorsed by a number of Jewish and non-Jewish organizations, including The Generation After; the Anielewicz Circle; Hashomer Hatzair; Habonim; the Brooklyn Chapter of the New Jewish Agenda; and the New York local of the Democratic Socialist Organizing Committee.
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