A spokesman for the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish organizations reiterated today that a resolution endorsing “acts of conscience” by members in response to Gulf Oil Corp. support of Arab propaganda efforts, about which the firm expressed “deep concern” last week, “speaks for itself.”
The resolution, adopted here last Tuesday, by 300 Jewish leaders, “approves and endorses acts of conscience taken by individual members reacting to the Gulf Oil gift to Arab sources in Beirut, Lebanon, for propaganda purposes in the United States.”
The resolution was adopted after Bob R. Dorsey, Gulf chairman, testified before a Senate subcommittee May 16 that the company had paid $50,000 for a public relations campaign for the Arab position in the Arab-Israeli conflict.
In a statement at its Pittsburgh headquarters, Gulf urged the Presidents Conference to await the outcome of an investigation of apparently illegal payments Dorsey said the company made to the Arab sources under duress.
The company statement said “We are deeply concerned about this resolution. It is based upon incomplete information about a contribution which is one part of an on-going investigation by the Securities and Exchange Commission. We would hope that when this investigation reveals all the circumstances surrounding the contribution that the American Jewish leaders will reconsider their action.”
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