Jewish Leader Meets with Peron

The leader of the Argentine Jewish community has asked President Juan D. Peron to stop anti-Semitic attacks in Argentina and to use his prestige to bring about a just peace in the Middle East. Dr. Sion Cohen Imach, head of the DAIA, made his plea last Thursday during 40-minute audience with Peron. Joining Dr. Imach in the delegation were Jaime Rajchemberg, president of the Buenos Aires Kehilla, Dr. Nehemias Resnitzky, DAIRA secretary, and Salomon Lobov, treasurer.

Dr. Imach said the Jewish community was concerned about the extreme number of publications and pamphlets from the extreme right and left distorting the ideology of the Peronist movement to attack the Jewish community. He also suggested that in view of the acknowledged prestige of Peron, the President should make his voice heard in international arenas in favor of a stable, just peace in the Mideast based on secure and recognized borders for Israel.

Peron replied that no one in the Peronist movement can use its ideology to preach religious and racial hatred. “It is absurd to apply the concept of synarchy (Peron’s philosophy of world politics) to the Jewish community living in Argentina,” Peron told the Jewish leaders. Noting that in 1946 his government eradicated anti-Semitic organizations in Argentina, Peron told the delegation that the Jewish community will always find his doors open to them.

Peron said that as far as the Mideast conflict is concerned he believes the nations involved are victims of the concentrated efforts of imperialism both from the East and the West and that Argentina will remain neutral. He said the conflict should not be brought to Argentina and that the Jewish and Arab communities here should live in harmony.