Two Jewish Groups Denounce Nixon; Demand End to Blockade of Harbors

Two Jewish organizations assailed President Nixon’s decision to mine North Vietnam harbors and bomb rail supply lines and demanded an immediate end to the blockade and total withdrawal of US troops from Southeast Asia. In separate statements today, Americans for Progressive Israel-Hashomer Hatzair and the Jewish Cultural Clubs and Societies deplored Nixon’s decision as contrary to his declared intention to de-escalate the war.

“In fact, this illegal embargo of an international port invites counter-action that can only lead to world-wide war,” declared Bruno Aron, chairman of the API-HH. The Socialist-Zionist group urged the immediate end of the blockade and the return to peace negotiations and “the complete withdrawal of all United States troops from Southeast Asia” as “the only way to bring about peace and to prove that the United States respects the rights of all small nations to independence and self-determination.”

The Jewish Cultural Clubs and Societies, which claims to represent 60 organizations in New York, urged their “members and all other Americans to vehemently oppose President Nixon’s brinkmanship war moves.” The statement also demanded that “all United States forces be unconditionally withdrawn from Indochina, with a date being immediately set for such withdrawal.”

The statement asserted that the President’s decision was a “dangerous action which can lead to a world nuclear holocaust,” and one which revealed the President’s “image of himself as a peace-maker” as a “crude and hypocritical sham.” The statement added that Jews in particular, “having experienced the horrors of genocide in World War II, should now raise their voices loud and clear before new catastrophes befall us.”