Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, has told the French Ambassador to the United States that “thousands of members” of the Conference’s 32 constituent organizations were urging a ban on travel to France and a boycott of French products in the U.S. to protest France’s release of Palestinian terrorist Abu Daoud.
Schindler headed a Presidents Conference delegation which met with Ambassador Jacques Kosciusko-Morizet for 90 minutes at the French Embassy here Friday to express the “shock and outrage of the American Jewish community” over the freeing of Daoud. He said he informed the ambassador that each of the Conference’s constituent organizations is autonomous and independent and will respond to demands for action against France “in its own fashion.”
Schindler added that “Whatever the response, there can be no doubt of the revulsion that American Jews–and men and women of good will of every race, religion and ethnic origin–feel at the ignoble act that France has committed in defiance of its own treaty obligations, in disregard of its professed adherence to the international campaign against terrorism and in contempt for life and for law that has been the hallmark of French civilization.”
Schindler said the Conference of Presidents rejected the “legalisms” advanced by French authorities to explain the relase of Daoud. He said their action was a “breach of the extradition treaty with Israel and of its commitment to act with vigor against the terrorist movement.” (See P. 4 for round-up of continuing protests against Daoud’s release.)
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
