Jewish Leaders Condemn Women’s Resolution Adopted in Mexico

A resolution equating Zionism with colonialism and calling for the elimination of both which was adopted last week by the International Women’s Year Conference in Mexico City was condemned here and by Jewish leaders throughout the world. The Foreign Ministry, expressing disgust, described the resolution as “another chapter in the moral bankruptcy of the UN.” Political circles here expressed surprise that a conference called to discuss the advancement of womens’ rights should condemn Zionism when Israel was the first country to introduce women’s emancipation and voting rights in the Middle East.

The United States and Denmark joined Israel in voting against the resolution. Britain was among the abstainers. The resolution was pushed through the conference by the Arab states with the overwhelming support of the Third World countries, China and the Soviet Communist blood. It was generally opposed by the Western powers. The conference, however, accepted an Egyptian proposal to adopt resolutions on a simple majority rather than the two-thirds majority normally required. Without that change, the references to Zionism would have failed to gain sufficient votes for approval, according to reports from Mexico City.

Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson, president of the Conference of Jewish Organizations (COJO) and chairman of the American Section of the World Zionist Organization, said in a statement issued in Geneva that the resolution adopted in Mexico City “once again demonstrated the deliberate misrepresentation of Zionism. It is amazing that in a world where many people are striving to achieve national identity, Zionism is not seen as an example for others to follow. The fact that such a resolution could be adopted at the Mexico conference is an indication of the hypocrisy and cynicism of the nations that voted for it or even abstained.”

Also in Geneva, Rabbi Israel Miller, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations declared: “We applaud the stand of the United States of America at the International Women’s Conference. America’s stand upholds the principles of international justice and fair play. At the same time we express our pained surprise at the abstention of Western democratic nations with a tradition of liberal and humanitarian policies.”

DEEP CONCERN EXPRESSED

In Buenos Aires, the Argentine Zionist Organization protested to Foreign Minister Alberto J, Vignes over Argentina’s co-sponsorship of the Mexico City resolution Identifying Zionism with neo-colonialism and imperialism. A telegram signed by Dr. Lazaro Rubinson and Natalie Zugman, president and secretary, respectively of the AZO, expressed deep concern over “this manifest distortion of Zionism which has always respected human rights.”

In Amsterdam, Sophie Vanemde, the president of the Netherlands Zionist Organization and former chairman of the Dutch branch of WIZO, condemned the resolution and declared it would have been preferable if the Dutch delegation had protested even more strongly on the section of the resolution which condemned Zionism.

Speaking on Dutch radio, Ms, Vanemde said that WIZO would launch a protest against the resolution and try to convince non-Jewish women’s organizations to join the protest. The Dutch delegation voted against the passage on Zionism in the committee discussions. When the resolution was voted in the plenary session, the Dutch women abstained on the section on Zionism, but voted for the rest of the resolution.

In London, the Board of Deputies of British Jews expressed its “dismay and protest” at the abstention of the British delegates on the resolution. Board President Lord Fisher, in a statement of protest sent to British Foreign Secretary James Callaghan, stated, in part: “It is tragic Irony that British women representatives should lack courage in opposing resolutions which are manifestly untrue, and an insult to a pioneering movement like Zionism, to the Jewish people, and to Israeli women whose constructive achievements must be a source of pride to women everywhere.”