Mexican President Says His Country Respects the Jewish People and is a Friend and Defender of Israel

President Miguel de la Madrid of Mexico told a delegation of American Jewish Committee leaders that “Mexico has a permanent attitude of friendship and respect for the Jewish people” and considers itself “a friend and defender of Israel.”

The President, who was on a state visit here where he met with President Reagan and Administration officials last week, met with the AJCommittee delegation shortly after he met with Reagan. It was his only meeting with a Jewish group during his visit. He was accompanied, at his meeting with the AJC leaders, by several members of his Cabinet and the Mexican Ambassador to the United States.

In response to a statement of welcome from Theodore Ellenoff, chairman of the AJCommittee’s Board of Governors, de la Madrid said that Mexico “is consistent in its historical philosophy toward the Mexican Jewish community. We in Mexico appreciate all the diverse groups that compose our society.”

Reaffirming his statement of last October in which he repudiated anti-Semitism in Mexico, de la Madrid said: “We are friends of the Jewish community in Mexico, and we deeply appreciate the culture from which they stem. Jews in Mexico are fully Mexican and are equal in every way in Mexican society.”

STRESSES ISSUE OF PALESTINIAN PEOPLE

Discussing the Middle East, the Mexican President declared:” Since the inception of Israel is a state, we have been a defender of Israel … While Mexico does not always agree with Israel’s policies, we speak openly of our differences.” He added: “We think frankly that it is essential to take up the question of the Palestinian people. Unless that problem of the Palestinians is resolved, conflict will be perpetuated with all the dire consequences that we know.”

The AJCommittee, while acknowledging the importance of resolving the status of the Palestinians, said the critical issue on which peace in the Middle East depends is the refusal of Arab nations and the PLO to acknowledge the right of Israel to exist as a sovereign state.

FAVORS DIPLOMATIC SOLUTIONS IN THE MIDEAST

De la Madrid responded by noting that “the Mexican government and people support the right of Israel to live as a sovereign state. Our approach to this problem is the same as with all international problems. We are consistently on the side of peaceful solutions.” He added: “We believe in diplomatic solutions rather than in military solutions in the Middle East as we do in Central America and elsewhere. We defend our sovereignty of all nation-states as inviolable.”

PRESIDENT PROMISES TO AID SOVIET DISSIDENTS

Rabbi Marc Tanenbaum, director of the AJCommittee’s international affairs department, asked de la Madrid if Mexico “would intervene vigorously on behalf of Andrei Sakharov and his wife, Yelena Bonner, who face imminent death unless Soviet authorities allow her to obtain immediate proper medical treatment.”

Tanenbaum added that “we are concerned about the fate of Anatoly Shcharansky, Ida Nudel, and other harassed and persecuted Jewish refuseniks who are being denied their human rights in violations of the Helsinki accords and United Nations covenants.”

The President said all these human rights concerns were “very much on his mind,” adding that he would “do everything possible” to be of assistance to Sakharov, Shcharansky, Nudel and others. The Mexican and AJCommittee delegations agreed to remain in contact with each other during the coming months.