The White House today advised B’nai B’rith that in future United States-Saudi Arabian relations it “shall not fail to pursue” effers to end Saudi discrimination against Americans of Jewish faith. The United States recently renewed a lease for the Dharhan Airbase in Saudi Arabia which discriminates against American servicemen of Jewish Faith.
Presidential Assistant Sherman Adams, in a letter to B’nai B’rith president Philip M. Klutznick, said that during King Saud’s visit here last month the monarch’s representatives “were informed of the special concern of the United States” over prohibitions against the admission of American Jews to Saudi Arabia. Saudi Arabian officials denied that religious discrimination was involved, Mr. Adams said.
“The representatives of Saudi Arabia explained that their regulations were not intended to discriminate against citizens of another country on the basis of religion but were related to the tensions arising from the Arab-Israel dispute, ” he added. “The hope was expressed that Saudi Arabia would be able, as these tensions were eased, to eliminate restrictions arising from them.
“You may be certain that in our continuing relations with Saudi Arabia we shall not fail to pursue this matter, ” Mr. Adams wrote the B’nai B’rith president. The Saudi restrictions extend to Jews in the U.S. armed forces and civilian workers who are banned from the American airbase in Dharhan and other installations leased by the U. S. in Saudi Arabia.
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