New York Jews Demonstrate Against Soviet Statements on Israel at U.N. Assembly

More than 1,000 Jewish adults and students assembled today for a three-hour demonstration near the Soviet Mission to the United Nations to protest Soviet statements against Israel made during the current emergency session of the General Assembly. The protest was sponsored by the Israel Crisis Coordinating Committee of the New York Jewish Community Relations Council, comprised of major Jewish organizations in the New York metropolitan area, as well as the New York Board of Rabbis and the New York Jewish Youth Council.

The demonstrators carried such signs as “End Soviet Anti-Semitism” and “Stop Incitement to Politicide” and “Let the Survivors of Auschwitz Live” and “Stop Shipments of Arms to Nasser.” In his appearance before the General Assembly Monday, Soviet Premier Alexei Kosygin compared Israel’s activities in the war this month with those of the Nazis, a propaganda theme pushed also by other Soviet diplomatic and press spokesmen since Israel’s lightning victory over Egypt, Jordan and Syria.

Arthur Levine, president of the New York JCRC, said the demonstration expressed “indignation at the vilification of the Jewish people and the malicious tone of the Soviet speeches at the United Nations which are aimed at inciting ‘politicide’ instead of using the channels of the United Nations for peaceful purposes.”

The 13 participating organizations are affiliates of the American Jewish Committee. American Jewish Congress, Brooklyn Jewish Community Council, Jewish Labor Committee. Jewish War Veterans, National Council of Jewish Women, New York Federation of Reform Synagogues, New York Hadassah, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations, United Synagogue of America, Labor Zionist Organization of America, Zionist Organization of America and the Workmen’s Circle. The demonstration was supported by the Conference of Presidents of Major Jewish Organizations, representing 21 national Jewish groups.