The State Department does not believe that the United States Government should involve itself directly with Soviet authorities on the problem of Soviet Jewry, the Department has informed Sen. Hugh Scott, Pennsylvania Republican.
Senator Scott responded with a charge that “our government is shirking its responsibility in this area.” He criticized the State Department for opposing the Ribicoff amendment which would have condemned Soviet anti-Semitism.
The White House asked the State Department to respond to Sen. Scott on the request of Philadelphia area citizens that the Government take more overt action to help Soviet Jewry. Douglas MacArthur, 2nd, Assistant Secretary of State for Congressional Relations, wrote Sen. Scott about the government’s latest assessment of the situation of Russian Jews. This assessment concluded that no U.S. Government action was indicated.
“As stated in this assessment,” Mr. MacArthur said, “the Department does not believe that formal, government-to-government protests over the situation of the Soviet Jewish community are in the best interests of Soviet Jews.” He pointed out that “in the past, Soviet officials have reacted unfavorably to criticism by foreign government organs or official representations on matters which the Soviet Government considers to be Soviet internal affairs.”
URGES PRIVATE ORGANIZATIONS TO APPEAL FOR JEWS IN RUSSIA
The Assistant Secretary of State told Senator Scott that the State Department “has found on the basis of repeated experience that the most serious official representations which officials of our government have made in the past at a government-to-government level had been rejected by Soviet leaders as interference in Soviet internal affairs.”
A recommendation was made by the State Department that private individuals and organizations displeased by Soviet policies affecting Jews continue to voice their views in appeals to world public opinion. “We hope that world public opinion can lead the Soviet Government to calculate that its interest can best be served by moderating its campaign against Judaism,” Mr. MacArthur stated.
The State Department official assessment of the facts pertaining to Soviet anti-Semitism said; “While all observers agree that Soviet Jews are being placed under increasing restrictions with regard to religious worship, the United States Government has no information indicating that Soviet Jews fear physical persecution of the type and magnitude which was directed against them during Czarist times or during the immediate post-war period under Stalin.”
Also, said the State Department, “there is no evidence that the authorities intend to incite the public to acts of anti-Jewish violence. Rather, they seem to be using popular anti-Semitic sentiments for their own purposes.” The Department added that “Judaism is one of the II recognized religious sects in the USSR and fares better than non-recognized groups, especially those such as Jehovah’s witnesses which espouses pacifism.”
Senator Scott said he disagreed “emphatically” with the government’s decision to refrain from action. He said that “for the past two years, U.S. Government officials have expressed their concern about this situation, but only before Jewish groups in the United States, never to the Soviet Union and–with one exception–not even before the United Nations.” The Senator charged that the government “puts its head in the sand on the issue of human rights.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
