Philip M. Klutznick, president of the World Jewish Congress, who arrived here today from Teheran, said there were certain anti-Semitic nuances in the current upheaval in Iran aimed against the Shah but cautioned that it would be unwise to exaggerate the legitimate concern of the Iranian Jewish community.
Klutznick said the anti-Semitic tendencies may have surfaced in response to rumors, spread world-wide, that Israel was sending troops to Iran to help the Shah. Those rumors were categorically denied today by Acting Premier Yigael Yadin, who called them malicious lies spread by hostile elements.
Klutznick said, however, that Jews outside Iran should be alerted to the situation in that country and watch developments there carefully. He said there was growing hatred against the government and policy of the Shah but it remained to be seen how deep that hatred runs. Likud MK Moshe Katzev called today on the Absorption Minister and the immigration authorities to make every possible effort to help Iranian Jews who wish to leave.
Klutznick told reporters at Ben Gurion airport that he would have ignored the recent insulting remarks made by Austrian Chancellor Bruno Kreisky against Premier Menachem Begin and his attack on Israel’s policies. He called Kreisky a text-book case and said it was best to ignore him altogether.
(It was reported, meanwhile, from Vienna that Otto Probst, Third President of the Austrian Parliament, resigned last Wednesday as chairman of the Austrian-Israel Society in protest against Kreisky’s remarks. Probst, who is not Jewish, said: “As a Socialist myself I regret that the party chairman has taken this slanderous position toward Israel.” But Kreisky was backed by the Young Socialists–Jusos–a youth organization. The group condemned anti-Kreisky statements by the Israeli Socialist Youth Movement which, it charged, has been taken over by the reactionary policies of the Begin government.)
Klutznick also spoke of the growth and increased communal activity of the Jewish communities in Australia and New Zealand where he recently visited. He said Jewish day schools and communal centers are becoming the focus of Jewish life in those countries.
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