A new organization has been set up, Black Americans for Peace in the Middle East, to provide educational material about Israel in the Black community, Bayard Rustin, the noted civil rights leader, said today. Rustin, who is director of the organization’s parent group, BASIC (Black Americans to Support Israel Committee), said that BASIC will devote itself to political activities in support of Israel in Congress and at the United Nations.
Rustin said the new group was formed after the Internal Revenue Service denied BASIC a tax exemption last year, saying its work was not education but “advocacy.” Black Americans for Peace in the Middle East will distribute pamphlets, provide speakers, organize tours to the Mideast and engage in other educational-type work, Rustin said. He said this group should meet the requirements for tax exemption while the two-year-old BASIC will continue as a non-exempt group.
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