Declaring that American Jews have failed to do their part in helping the Jewish newcomers to Israel who are now in immigrant camps, Henry Morgenthau, Jr., general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal who is now on a visit here, last night issued a statement in which he characterized the situation in the immigrant camps as “bad beyond description.”
“Conditions in these camps are terrible because American Jews do not contribute enough to enable proper care for the new immigrants,” Mr. Morgenthau said, following his return from a visit to a number of camps. “Today’s conditions in the camps are far worse than 14 months ago when I visited them,” he said. “The only reason that tens of thousands of immigrants must stay in the camps for months to come is because American Jews are unaware of the plight of the woman and children huddled in cold camps, flimsy tents and unheated wooden huts.
“The answer to this situation,” Mr. Morgenthau continued, “is not a reduction in immigration but an enormons increase of American support to the United Jewish Appeal. It is unthinkable to suggest the limitation of immigration when almost a million North African Jews clamor for admission to Israel and when several thousand Jews in Iran, who are Iraqi citizens, must be taken out because the Iranian Government wants to send them back to Iraq, which is tantamount to a death sentence.”
Pointing out that when Hitler messacred 6,000,000 Jews, civilization did little to save the Jews in Europe, Mr. Morgenthau said that today, when the lives of another million Jews are imperilled, and when the people of Israel want to take the responsibility of giving them shelter, the least American Jews could do is to give “dollars for rescus.”
As an example of the present situation in the camps resulting from the shortage of funds, Mr. Morgenthau cited the fact that the daily food ration for the immigrants was recently reduced from 2,500 to 2,250 calories. “Much needless suffering could be avoided if we act promptly,” Mr. Morgenthau said. “However, if Israel is called upon to meet these needs it would mean that funds desperately needed for defense would have to be diverted to cover the neglect of American Jewry.”
Yesterday at Herzlia, Mr. Morgenthau advocated a Middle East alliance similar to the North Atlantic Pact. He called such a move “a coalition against aggression by Russia.” Mr. Morgenthau added that he felt such a pact would end the current arms race, in the Middle East, which he said, amounts to a “cold war,” and would cause all concerned “to forget their family squabble” and provide a basis for general economic development.
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.
