President Johnson and Secretary of State Dean Rusk were requested today by Rabbi Maurice N. Eisendrath, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, to place the problem of Soviet anti-Semitism on a list of “humanitarian priorities.” With his letters to the President and Mr. Rusk, Rabbi Eisendrath sent some documentary evidence, proving that, under the new Soviet regime, anti-Jewish policies have been stepped up.
The Reform leader included among his documents a reproduction of a cartoon that appeared in a recent issue of Izvestia, organ of the Soviet Government. Rabbi Eisendrath said that cartoon was “clearly anti-Jewish and anti-Israel.” He charged also that a Soviet official, newly promoted to the presidium of the Soviet Communist Party, is the man who, under Nikita Khrushchev, conducted the campaign against Jews charged with “economic crimes,” and frequently executed on such charges. The man is Aleksander Shelepin, former head of the Soviet secret police.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
