Major Jewish Groups Condemn King Hussein for ‘advice’ to U.S. Jewry

Condemnation of King Hussein for his unwarranted lecture to “American Jews about their deep affection and affinity for the people of Israel, ” was voiced by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations in a statement issued today.

The statement by the leaders of 18 organizations, comprising major Zionist and non-Zionist groups representing all Jewish denominations in the U.S., declared that King Hussein and his fellow Arab leaders must reappraise their attitudes on Israel if peace in the Middle East is to be achieved. The statement said:

“King Hussein of Jordan is a guest of the United States on a visit of state. The King’s visit obstensibly was for the purpose of discussing with the President of the United States relationships between his country and our own. We applaud the efforts of our government to continue to perfect the bases for mutually good relationships with all nations, including those in the Middle East. But we must regard as a flagrant violation of hospitality and as calculatedly provocative some of the utterances made by King Hussein during his visit.

“The Israeli project for use of her share of the waters of the Jordan River system, was repeatedly misrepresented by King Hussein as unilateral exploitation by Israel of regional resources and as violative of international law, although he knows full well that the project conforms in every detail with recommendations of the United States as proposed by Ambassador Eric Johnston, and despite the fact that Jordan itself already actually is diverting the Yarmuk River, a tributary of the Jordan, also as contemplated by the Johnston proposal; Israel on its part has pledged to adhere fully to the Johnston Plan, and its program is fully within all of the limits of the Johnston Plan.

“The Jordanian monarch, while a guest in the United States, insultingly misrepresented our national policy regarding Israel and other Middle East states as shaped by pressures upon our government from American Jewish sources, rather than upon considerations of national interest. Such an imputation obviously merits nothing better than the scornful silence with which it was greeted in official quarters. Israel’s demonstrated desire to join with the Arab governments that surround it to achieve peace and to solve the economic and human problems common to all nations in the Middle East has won the admiration and respect, not only of Americans but of peace-loving nations and peoples in all parts of the world.

“Meanwhile, 16 years after Israel’s creation as a state, King Hussein and his Arab associates still try to deny the existence of Israel and to sow dissension among Americans by seeking to cast doubt on the propriety of the deep feelings of affinity with the people of Israel that are shared by American Jews. By lending himself to this effort during his visit here, King Hussein succeeded only in revealing that his pious posing as an advocate of peace and a proponent of better understanding between Israel and her neighbors was but a cloak for his genuine purpose of exacerbating animosities and making meaningful peace impossible.”