Efforts to prove that “American Jewry is against the Arab nations” and that Egypt and the other Arab countries are at war not only with Israel but with Americans of the Jewish faith, were described here tonight as “utter nonsense” by Philip M. Klutznick, President of B’nai B’rith, the largest Jewish organization in the world.
Addressing more than 1,200 guests attending a Jewish National Fund dinner in honor of Mayor David L. Lawrence of this city Mr. Klutznick said: “We have known for some time of the extent of the hate campaign that has been launched against American Jews by official representatives of certain Arab nations. The absence of peace in the Middle East has its effects upon us as Americans and as American Jews.
“When have we in any official or individual sense opposed our country’s economic aid to Egypt and other lands? When the United States influenced Britain to evacuate the Suez Canal, what substantial segment of American Jewry opposed Egypt’s return to dignity? One would have to be a fool of the first order not to favor a friendly relationship between our great country and the Arab nations. All that we have ever urged is that such friendship should not be bought in the open market at the expense of a friend–Israel.”
Turning to the arrival today in this country of Prime Minister Eden of Britain, the B’nai B’rith president said: “We are on the eve of a conference in which the President of the United States, the Secretary of State and the Prime Minister of Britain will be discussing questions of momentous import. Their discussions will be concerned in large measure with the basic issue of war or peace in the Middle East. On this issue, Israel has repeatedly and emphatically made clear that she is ready to sit down at the negotiating table with the Arab states at any time that such a meeting can be arranged, with the sole stipulation that no preconditions be attached to these negotiations by either side” He termed the “policy of appeasement an archaic and worn-out tool of international diplomacy.”
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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.
