The Joint Defense Appeal, fund-raising arm of the American Jewish Committee and of the B’nai B’rith Anti-Defamation League, tonight launched its 1956 campaign for $5,600,000 to be used for combatting anti-Semitism and programs for safeguarding civil liberties in the United States, Several hundred guests attended the dinner at which Henry L. Moses. prominent philanthropist, was honored.
Frederick F. Greenman, chairman of the JDA campaign, told the gathering that for the first time in five years the American Jewish Committee and the Anti-Defamation League have increased their budgets “in order to meet the many problems confronting the community as a result of the tensions in the South arising over the desegregation problem and the crises in the Middle East.” Mr. Greenman said that there is “increasing evidence that desegregation tensions are taking on anti-Semitic overtones, that anti-Semites have joined the movement and that anti-Jewish literature is an accepted part of the materials distributed and used by speakers.”
Mr. Greenman said also that social discrimination against Jews, reflected in anti-Jewish practices in education, housing, employment and public accommodations, is at a high point in the United States. “Social sanctions against Jew represents today the most extensive expression of anti-Semitic prejudice in our country,” he declared.
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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.