The State Department’s action in securing modification of Saudi Arabia’s ban on trading with Jews was praised today but it was pointed out that the problem of the boycott remains for Jews of other lands and even for American citizens whose firms are represented in Israel.
Dr. Maurice L. Perizweig, World Jewish Congress consultant to the United Nations, said today that the congress would continue to press for a hearing in the U.N. Economic and Social Council on the Saudi Arabian policy which he charged was in “direct violation” of the U.N. Charter.
While praising the State Department for acting to secure a removal of the boycott as it affected American Jews, Dr. Perlzweig warned that “the problems created by the Saudi Arabian boycott are still very far from being solved.” The situation “remains unchanged so far as Jews of British, Italian or other nationalities are concerned,” he said, charging that the Saudi Arabian decrees have “no commercial or economic justification,” are “clearly and deliberately designed to serve political purposes,” and have in effect “resulted in the export of discrimination to other countries.
The Saudi Arabian delegation to the United Nations, Dr. Perlzweig asserted, has for the past two weeks succeeded in blocking the efforts of the World Jewish Congress to secure a review of the discriminatory decree in the U.N’s Economic and Social Council. The congress seeks review of the boycott as a violation of Articles 55 and 56 of the Charter, which oblige the U.N. and its member governments to promote universal observance of human rights and freedoms, without discrimination as to race, sex, language or religion.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
