The Polish Jewish community was described today as being alarmed and shocked by a blunt warning from the Polish Communist Party boss yesterday against showing sympathy for Israel in its conflict with the Arab states. The warning was delivered by Wladyslaw Gomulka, first secretary of the United Workers (Communist) Party, addressing a trades union congress in Warsaw. Mr. Gomulka told the congress delegates that Polish Jews had applauded the Israeli “aggression” and had held celebrations for Israel’s victory.
“We do not want to have a fifth column in our country,” he declared. He asserted that Polish Jews who wanted to go to Israel had been permitted to do so, but that those who remained Polish citizens should have only Poland as their fatherland. Some Polish non-Jewish intellectuals shared Jewish concern over this attempt to control the conscience of Polish Jews. The Jewish Social and Cultural Association, the central body of the Jewish community, made no reply to Mr. Gomulka.
The official Polish news agency distributed a version of the Gomulka speech several hours later which toned down the threat to the Polish Jews by eliminating the reference to a fifth column and by inserting phrases to the effect that the: “great majority” of Jews in Poland gave their loyalty to Poland and faithfully served the country. But the revised text still took the position that Israel had threatened world peace in the Middle East and thus the security of Poland and stressed that the regime could not ignore those who “support the aggressor.”
RUMANIAN COMMUNITY PARTY ABSTAINS FROM TAKING ANTI-ISRAEL STAND
The Communist Party chief in Rumania was reported from Bucharest today to have taken an entirely different position, reflecting the independent stand taken by the Rumanian Government on the Middle East conflict. The Rumanian Government was the only member of the Communist Eastern bloc which did not sign the Moscow communique branding Israel as the aggressor in the Middle East outbreak and calling for Israel’s condemnation.
Nicolae Ceausescu, the party head, called in a speech for Arab-Israeli negotiations and urged both not to fight but to seek understanding on their differences. He said a solution must guarantee the democratic development of the Arab world and of Israel and indicated that Israel, on achieving this agreement, would have to renounce its territorial conquests.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
