U.S. and Israel Charge Moscow at U.N. with Practicing Anti-semitism

The United States and Israel today indicted the Soviet Union here of anti-Semitic practices verging on “cultural genocide” and the creation of a “pogrom” atmosphere against the Jews in the USSR. The American attack was leveled by Mrs. Henrietta Tree, chairman of the U.S. delegation to the UN Commission on Human Rights and was believed the sharpest condemnation of Soviet anti-Semitism ever voiced here by a major power.

Both Mrs. Tree and Ambassador Michael S. Comay, Israel’s permanent representative to the UN, spoke in the Human Rights Commission which, for nearly a month, has been debating a draft Convention on the Elimination of All Forms of Racial Intolerance. As part of that draft, Mrs. Tree introduced one clause which would declare specifically that the governments adhering to the international instrument “condemn anti-Semitism, whether manifested as a form of racial discrimination or otherwise, and shall take action as appropriate for its speedy eradication in the territories subject to their jurisdiction. “

While both Mrs. Tree and Mr. Comay were careful to avoid mention of the USSR by name when they made their charges of anti-Semitic practices, Platon D. Morozov, chief Soviet delegate in the Commission, indicated that he considered his own country as the principal target of the American and Israeli charges. He did so by trying hard to amend Mrs. Tree’s proposal in such a way as to point to anti -Semitism as the result only of Nazism and Fascism.

U.S.REPRESENTATIVE OUTLINES SOVIET DISCRIMINATION AGAINST JEWS

Mrs. Tree, telling the Commission she would not mind if the Soviet amendment were presented as a separate paragraph, insisted nevertheless that the Commission must not “minimize” anti-Semitism as a separate phenomenon calling for “immediate and basic concern.”

“We must recognize,” she said, “that some states where laws for bid discrimination in the most forceful terms nevertheless carry on policies which are designed to have the effect of obliterating an ethnic group. The biological differences of race cannot be exterminated by cultural deprivations; but ethnic differences and some times nationality differences are absolutely dependent on language, schools, publications and other cultural institutions in order to survive.

“We must deal with anti-Semitism even when it takes the forms of deprivation of the religious and cultural heritage which makes a group unique. We should make it clear that a state which makes provision for German-language schools for that ethnic group should not deny Yiddish or Hebrew schools to its Jews; that a state which can permit national and regional organizations of some ethnic groups should, under the principle of non-discrimination, permit the same for Jews; that a state which permits recognized leaders of every other group to travel abroad to conferences and Holy Places should not be able to deny that right to Jewish Ieaders; that a state that finds facilities to publish textual materials in the language and traditions to some groups should not be able to deny this right to Jewish groups; that a state which is able to tolerate the differences in 100 nationali ties should have no right whatever to extinguish those differences in the 101st. We are not living in a world in which racial genocide would be permitted. But there can be such a thing as cultural or even ethnic genocide.”

Mr. Morozov, following Mrs. Tree’s address, presented his own amendment, which includes condemnation of anti-Semitism along with Nazism, neo-Nazism, genocide and other “atrocious” forms of racism. He denounced anti-Semitism resoundingly, but attributed it entirely to Nazism. and Fascism. As for cultural genocide, he said, that is already forbidden in the United Nations Convention Against Genocide, adopted in 1948 and ratified by the USSR.

ISRAEL ENVOY SEES ANTI-JEWISH POLICY ACQUIRING ‘ALARMING DIMENSION’

Then the floor was given to Ambassador Comay. He has attended the Commission’s deliberations as an observer, since Israel is not part of the 21-member Human Rights Commission. After praising Mrs. Tree’s initiative and acknowledging Mr. Morozov’s denunciation of anti-Semitism per se. Mr. Comay lashed out at the Soviet anti-Semitism without

Thus showing clearly that he was referring to the Soviet Union, Mr. Comay went on to list some of the anti-Semitic practices to which USSR Jews are subjected; He enumerated such facts that Hebrew may not be taught to Jews in the Soviet Union. the Scriptures and prayerbooks are not printed, no rabbis are trained, production of articles required for worship and ritual purposes has been stopped, synagogues have been closed down, education facilities in Yiddish are denied and “there are no Jewish institutions organized on a national level and no contact with Jewish communities elsewhere.”

Mr. Comay concluded his address with what was considered as a bombshell. He told the Commission that he had with him a booklet entitled “Judaism Without Embellishment,” published last year “under the auspices of a certain state academy of science.” The state to which he referred is the Ukraine, a component of the USSR and a member of the Human Rights Commission.

He called the pamphlet “from beginning to end a vicious smear against the history, beliefs and moral standards of the Jews” comparing some of its illustrations with the “more revolting,” works in “Der Stuermer” which was published by Julius Streicher, Hitler’s official anti-Semitic propagandist. He then took the unusual step of having circulated to all the 21 members of the Commission reproductions of some of the anti-Semitic caricatures included in the Ukrainian booklet.