Rep. Christian Herter, vice-chairman of H.E.L.P.–Holyland Emergency Liaison Program–resigned today, expressing a critical view of the “political objectives” of the pro-Arab propaganda organization.
Rep. Herter was the only Congressman named on the staff of H.E.L.P. The organization includes outspoken anti-Zionists such as Kermit Roosevelt, Alfred M. Lilienthal and Lessing J. Rosenwald, president of the American Council for Judaism. In a letter to Dr. Henry Slcane Coffin, chairman of the National Council of H.E.L.P. and former president of the Union Theological Seminary, Rep. Herter said:
“This step is being taken because membership in the National Council of H.E.L.P. places me in an inconsistent position. It has long been a primary concern of mine that there should be a strong Israel which can offer a haven to the countless persecuted Jews of the world. The National Council of H.E.L.P. as presently organized is made up in large part of persons who have publicly taken a position against the creation of an independent Israel and there has, therefore, been created a reasonable inference that the political objectives of the Council and those of Israel will be in conflict.”
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