U.S. Jew Places Jewish Community in Egypt in Difficult Position

The activities of an American propagandist for the Arab cause in the Middle East has placed the Egyptian Jewish community in a difficult position, according to reports received from Egypt by the Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, it was announced by Max J. Schneider, chairman of ADL’s Eastern Region Board.

In an interview published in the English language “Egyptian Gazette” of Cairo, Alfred Lilienthal, of Washington, D. C., author of the pro-Arab book, “What Price Israel,” publicly proposes that representatives of the Egyptian Jewish community come to the United States to propagandize against Zionism.

Reliable sources, the League declared, report that the Egyptian Jewish community is in a state of trepidation as a result of Mr. Lilienthal’s plan, which he proposed after a meeting with Egyptian Prime Minister Gamal Abdul Nasser. Egyptian Jewish leaders fear that Lilienthal’s meddling in the Middle East jeopardizes the existence of Jewish life in Egypt and other Arab states, Mr. Schneider. said.

In Washington, Mr. Lilienthal today announced that he has submitted suggestions to the State Department urging Secretary of State John Foster Dulles “to obtain a bi-partisan agreement to take the question of Israel and the Arab States cut of domestic politics.”

Among other things, he recommended that Secretary Dulles appoint “a Middle East board of inquiry” to be headed by Bernard Baruch as a representative Democrat and chairman Lewis H. Strauss of the Atomic Energy Commission, a Republican. It was not indicated whether Mr. Baruch or Mr. Strauss had been consulted about the proposed board. Mr. Lilienthal envisaged it as a “bi-partisan” move to establish the facts of the situation of Arabs in Israel and of Jews in the Arab states.

Mr. Lilienthal apparently has no official association with any American Jewish organization. An inquiry made to the office of the American Council for Judaism brought the response that he has been a nominal member but is not connected with it in any official capacity either as a volunteer or as a member of its staff.