Sen. Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican, today took issue with Sen. Ralph E, Flanders, Vermont Republican, on the latter’s recent allegation in the Senate that unrestricted immigration of Jews to Israel was a threat to the Arab states.
Sen. Javits told the Senate that “the fact is that Israel’s immigration is at one of the lowest levels which that state has experienced since it first gained independence 10 years ago.” He cited figures showing that only 8,534 newcomers entered Israel in the current year up to July 1.
“A very important point is that these immigrants are not culled, as has been alleged, from lands where Jews do not live under social and economic pressures, but, rather, the overwhelming preponderance comes from within the Soviet bloc satellite nations of Eastern Europe where Jews are under tremendous pressure, and from countries around the Mediterranean and in North Africa, and also Iran, where the situation is made extremely difficult, indeed, for Jews, “Sen. Javits stressed.
He did not mention Sen. Flanders by name but it was clear that his remarks were in reply to an attack on Israel’s immigration policy voiced several days ago by Sen. Flanders Sen Javits said that “misunderstanding” had been spread in the Senate about Israel.
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