Mayor John V. Lindsay was urged today to meet with “interested parties” to discuss charges raised by Rabbi Julius G. Neumann that the city’s Commission on Human Rights had ignored anti-Jewish discrimination and concerned itself solely with complaints of Negroes.
Rabbi Neumann, spiritual leader of Congregation Zichron Moshe of New York, resigned from the commission yesterday, accusing William H. Booth, chairman, of “whipping up animosity among people” by an alleged policy of sidestepping grievances of Jews and Puerto Ricans to concentrate exclusively on those of Negroes. Mr. Booth, a Negro and former civil rights leader of the National Association for the Advancement of Colored People, has rejected the charge.
Israel Laster, director of the New York chapter of the American Jewish Committee, called upon Mayor Lindsay to probe Rabbi Neumann’s allegations against the commission chairman.
“It is absolutely essential,” Mr. Laster said, “that the debate over the conflict not be allowed to fester. It must be harnessed for constructive purposes, or else New York will be in for trouble. The mayor must act promptly to clarify the issues if the commission is to act effectively in behalf and with the confidence of the total community.”
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