National organizations of Jewish youth in this country today welcomed the news that the World Youth Festival which was scheduled to be held in Algeria from July 28 to August 7, will not take place there. They have been looking as Rance at the projected festival which was Moscow-backed, because Algeria snubbed Israel and refused to invite any youth delegation from there to participate in the festival.
The World Union of Jewish Students recently issued a statement vehemently protesting “against all political discrimination and particularly that evidenced by Algeria in with holding an invitation to Israel to participate in the festival.” It urged participants to phrase the strongest possible protest and demonstration against Israel’s arbitrary and discriminatory exclusion and against any decisions concerning Israel that might be taken.”
A similar protest has come from the French Students Union and a like national arganization of Jewish students in Holland. Basing its action partly on discrimination against Israel, the Norwegian Student Union has decided not to participate. The American Youth Festival Committee, with headquarters in New York, has similarly protested the exclasion of Israel.
The protest declared: “The spirit of the festival cries out against political divisions responsible for keeping young people from joining together.” It concludes with an assertion that Israel’s exclusion “is a contradiction of the aims of the Festival.”
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