A rabbinical leader proposed here today that religious leaders and laymen of all faiths organize to secure Jerusalem as a holy city with complete freedom of religion and as the capital of the State of Israel. Rabbi Abraham M. Hershberg, president of the Union of Latin American Rabbis and chairman of the International Committee for Religious Freedom, also called for a conference of Moslem and Jewish religious leaders to help bring peace to the Middle East.
“The religious ideas of the Moslems and the Jews are the same,” he said in a statement at a press conference here. “The Bible and the Koran of the Moslems are for peace and brotherhood and there is no reason why they cannot live in peace and harmony.” Dr. Hershberg claimed that the Soviet Union was behind machinations to wrest Jerusalem from Israel and make it an international city. He also blamed “atheistic Communism” for trying to destroy peace and religious freedom in the Middle East.
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