Jeane Kirkpatrick, the U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations, refused today to agree with a charge that Argentina is the most Nazi and anti-Semitic country since Hitler’s Germany. That assertion was made by Rep. Clarence Long (D. Md.), chairman of the House Appropriations Subcommittee on Foreign Operations before which Kirkpatrick testified today.
When Long asked if she wouldn’t agree to his characterization of Argentina as Nazi and anti-Semitic, she said that Vietnam, and Cambodia under Pol Pot followed many of the principles of the Hitler regime. When Long said he was referring specifically to the anti-Semitic policies of Argentina, Kirkpatrick replied, “I would not be willing to characterize Argentina as uniquely anti-Semitic in our time.” She noted that the Soviet Union also has anti-Semitic policies, an observation with which Long agreed.
Long began the colloquy by noting articles that have been appearing on Jacobo Timerman, the former editor and publisher of the Argentine daily, La Opinion, who described his experiences after his arrest by Argentina’s ruling military junta in his new book, “Prisoner Without a Name, Cell Without a Number.” Timerman, who now lives in Israel, pointed out that while Jews comprise only a small number of those arrested by the Argentine regime, they are singled out for especially harsh punishment.
Kirkpatrick said she met Timerman last week and that she has long been aware of his experiences in Argentina. The UN envoy said that the Reagan Administration is concerned with human rights. But she stressed that it believes more can be accomplished with such governments as Argentina’s by quiet diplomacy than by the public criticism used by the Carter Administration.
Long observed that the Administration’s lifting of the grain embargo against the Soviet Union and its proposed sale of arms to the Argentine government demonstrates that is willing to deal with any government, “no matter how despicable if it is in its own economic interests.”
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