U.N. Body Asked to Act on Jordan’s Discrimination Against Jews

Charging the State of Jordan with the practice of religious bigotry by refusing to permit entry of UNESCO personnel of the Jewish faith, the American Jewish Congress today urged the U.S. National Commission for UNESCO to initiate action against the Middle East kingdom’s “attempt to introduce religious prejudice into the UN agency devoted to its elimination.”

In a memorandum submitted today at the Commission’s meeting in this city, Judge Justine Wise Polier, chairman of the AJC national executive committee, noted that the Commission is the accredited statutory liaison between the American public and the official U.S. delegation which will attend the next General Conference of UNESCO, to be held in November in New Delhi, India.

“The United States delegation to UNESCO has the legal capacity to recommend, and the General Conference the legal capacity to adopt at its next session, a resolution notifying Jordan, as well as any other state that interposes comparable barriers that UNESCO will refuse to assign personnel other than on an entirely non-discriminatory basis; that, in short, UNESCO cannot under any guise or pretext be made to collaborate in efforts to implement racial or religious prejudice, “the American Jewish Congress memorandum stated. “The resolution should authorize the Director-General to make it plain to the State of Jordan that it cannot repudiate so fundamental a purpose of UNESCO and remain within its administrative framework.”

The memorandum called the Commission’s attention to the unanimous adoption in the Senate of Resolution 323, which condemned attempts by foreign states to impair the rights of American citizens because of their religious beliefs, and also to the platforms recently adopted by both political parties which contain similar statements.