Solon Says Jews Should Discuss Issues of Concern Not Only Among Themselves but Also with Their Non-j

Sen. Christopher Dodd (D. Conn.) urged American Jews Wednesday to discuss the issues that concern the Jewish community, not only among themselves and members of Congress but with their non-Jewish friends and neighbors.

“To not discuss these subjects” with non-Jews “is a mistake of monumental proportions,” he told the 500 delegates attending the closing luncheon of the national biennial convention of the American Jewish Congress at the Omni-Shoreham Hotel. “You cannot sustain any policy in a democracy without broad-based public support for what you are doing,” Dodd asserted.

He said Jews have been neglecting this “important educational process.” He said he knew it was “awkward” to discuss these issues with people who may be ignorant of the issues and even ask “offensive” questions, but it has to be done. Dodd said members of Congress, who for the most part support Israel and other issues of particular concern to Jews, were also “to blame” because they discuss these issues only before Jewish audiences. He said he has begun talking about them in his general foreign policy speeches.

Dodd said his concern comes from his father, the late Sen. Thomas Dodd (D. Conn.) who served as prosecutor under Robert Jackson at the Nuremburg war crimes trial. He said his father discussed what he had learned later with his children and Dodd maintained that as an adolescent he knew more about the Holocaust than most Jewish youngsters his age.

Dodd said his father was the first civilian witness to testify for ratification of the Genocide Convention before the Senate in 1951. This year Dodd was one of the Senators who introduced the resolution which the Senate adopted, ratifying the convention. On more specific issues, Dodd said he was “disappointed” that the Middle East peace process appears to have stalled. “I thought something was going to happen,” he said. But he stressed that “ultimately there will only be peace and security and stability for the State of Israel in the Middle East through a political process.” Meanwhile, he stressed it is necessary to support Israel’s economic and military security.

Dodd said most members of Congress are opposed to the sale of $354 million in missiles to Saudi Arabia, as they were to the sale of arms to Jordan, until the Saudis shows signs of moving toward peace with Israel. “On a daily basis Saudi Arabia is still the principal financial institution that supports terrorism in the world,” he said.