A charge by Rabbi Andre Ungar, of the Port Elizabeth Reform Congregation, that the government’s order that he leave the Union of South Africa had been intended to intimidate Jewish citizens, was repudiated today by the Eastern Province Committee of the Couth African Jewish Board of Deputies.
Dr. Ungar, an American citizen, had been ordered by Interior Minister Donges to leave the country, after he had criticized the government’s policy on segregation of colored people. He then alleged that the order was intended to intimidate Jewish citizens and keep them from voicing criticism of the government.
A statement issued by the committee today declared that the Jewish community in South Africa, in common with other sections of the population, includes individuals of all shades of opinion. Some Jews have sharply criticized the government, the statement declared, while government spokesmen have exercised their right of reply.
“Such reactions,” the committee stated, “were never construed as intimidation directed against the Jewish community.” Rabbi Ungar’s case, the committee statement continued, is no exception. “Dr. Ungar,” declared the committee, “spoke entirely as an individual, neither for his congregation nor for South African Jewry as a whole. Despite his suggestion, the withdrawal of his residence permit is not regarded by the Jewish community as a government attempt at intimidation of Jewish citizens who may be critical of the government policy.”
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