Rep, Joshua Eilberg. (D.Pa) accused the State Department of deliberately trying to discourage American citizens from cancelling trips to countries that voted for the anti-Zionist resolutions adopted at the recently ended 30th session of the United Nations General Assembly.
In a letter to Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger, Eilberg charged that the State Department was “advising the Civil Aeronautics Board not to permit persons who had previously paid for trips to countries which had supported the resolutions to cancel their reservations.” Eilberg referred specifically to a trip to Brazil sponsored by the Jewish “Y” of Greater Philadelphia, scheduled to depart December 27. The trip was cancelled but the State Department has urged the CAB to reject requests for a refund of the air fares paid in advance, Eilberg said.
“This action would force the people to go to countries where they would feel uncomfortable and be unhappy at the very least, or they would have to forfeit the cost of the vacation which they had paid in advance,” the Congressman wrote. He said that “Obviously, the State Department is more concerned about the feelings of a government of a foreign nation than those of the citizens of the United States in whose interest the department is supposed to be working.”
Noting the “great anger throughout the country over the vote in the UN General Assembly” on the anti-Zionism resolutions, Eilberg said the expectation was that the Ford Administration “would do something tangible to show its displeasure.” But “so far the government has not taken any concrete measures to show how the nation feels about the vote,” he charged.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
