Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller was urged today by the Jewish War Veterans of New York State to sign into law the group libel bill which has been passed in both houses of the state legislature. The bill, introduced by Senator Irwin R. Brownstein of Brooklyn, was sponsored by the JWV. The American Jewish Committee, the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith and other major Jewish organizations are opposed to the bill and have asked the Governor to veto it on the ground that the vague language of the bill may render it open to the charge that it violates due process of law.
New York State JWV Commander Maurice Gherman, in his letter today to Gov. Rockefeller, said that the Governor’s failure to sign the bill would be misconstrued by hate-mongers as a victory for them. The JWV commander commended the state legislature for amending the penal code outlawing the dissemination, publishing, exhibiting or uttering false and defamatory matter in respect to any racial, religious or ethnic group.
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