Jewish Youth Conference Urges Unified Action for American Jewry

A resolution calling on Jewish community leaders in the United States to establish an American Jewish Conference to serve as “an instrument of unified action for American Jewry” in such areas as defense of minority rights, development of creative Jewish arts and encouragement of cultural ties with Jewish communities throughout the world was adopted at the closing session of the eight-day convention of the National Jewish Youth Conference held under the sponsorship of the National Jewish Welfare Board at Camp Wel-Met, near here.

Other resolutions asked for the strengthening of Jewish education, called on the United States, through the United Nations, to explore all possible avenues to peace, urged strengthening of human rights, supported the program of the World Assembly of Youth and the Young Adult Council of the National Social Welfare Assembly and called for the strengthening of ties between American Jewish youth and the Youth of Israel.

A resolution which charged bias towards minority groups in textbooks and in the entertainment industry called for complete objectivity in textbooks and for the promotion of intergroup understanding by the entertainment industry. At the same time, the Conference condemned any limitations of academic freedom such as the loyalty oath for professors and called on Congress to repeal the McCarran Act.

The Conference called on countries having a policy forbidding migration to Israel to accept the principles of the Universal Declaration of Human Rights regarding freedom of movement and permit Jews in their countries the right of migration to Israel if they desire. It also adopted resolutions condemning the resurgence of Nazism in Germany and specifically opposing commutation of sentences and extension of clemency to Nazi war criminals. Selden M. Kruger, of Newark, N.J., was unanimously elected to the chairmanship of the Conference.