Gromyko Evades Charges at U.N. on Soviet Anti-semitism

Soviet delegate Andrei Gromyko today told the United Nations Political Committee that his delegation considers it “beneath its dignity” to answer to charges voiced last night by the American delegate,Henry Cabot Lodge, that Jews are being oppressed in the Soviet Union.

Mr. Gromyko termed the charges by the American delegate “a concoction of falsifications.” The U.S. representative, he said, had “discoursed” on the persecution of ethical groups in the USSR, including the Jews, for “opportunistic” reasons. “The Soviet delegation considers it beneath its dignity to dwell on this slander.” he declared.

Czech Foreign Minister Vaclav David, referring to Golda Myerson’s earlier address to the Political Committee, stated that the “lady from Israel” had said she would submit facts concerning the alleged anti-Semitism in the Communist countries. The Czech delegation would not fail to take an appropriate stand on the “loud and incendiary statements” of Israel, he warned.

He asserted that the Slansky trial in Prague had “disclosed an all-time low in the shamefulness and hypocrisy of the conspiratorial gang headed by Slansky.”Stating that there was a “new network of treason” set up in the Communist states, he charged that “this network was Zionism.” After the establishment of Israel, he said, “the key antenna of the America espionage organization” was provided by Zionism. He also charged the Zionists with “squeezing all possible capital from the horrors of Auschwitz and Maidenek.”

Henry Happenot of France saw “the hideous spectre of anti-Semitism” behind the Slansky trial in Czechoslovakia.

MYERSON CALLS CZECH SPEECH “CALLOUS INSULT TO JEWISH VICTIMS”

Mrs. Golda Myerson, temporary head of the Israel delegation, replying to the charges made by the Czechoslovak Foreign Minister, termed his speech “a callous insult to the Jewish victims” of the last war. She severely attacked Mr. David and said that his speech would arouse the indignation of the world.

The Israel Minister told the U.N. Political Committee she was “shocked to hear the echoes of Nazi defamation of the Jews” from the lips of a Czechoslovak representative. She called Mr. David’s references to Israel “slanderous and insulting” and asserted that his contention that Israel was the “key antenna of Zionist conspiracy” was a repetition of the main theme of the “grotesque Prague trial.”

Mrs. Myerson declared that the State of Israel had been re-established after centuries of untold repression and suffering. The Jewish State, she said, was still struggling to absorb those who came to its shores. The very achievements of Israel contributed to world peace and progress, she pointed out.

Uruguayan delegate Prof. Enriques Fabregat told the U.N. Political Committee that he wondered whether the Czech item was not a diversionary action to bide racial discrimination in Czechoslovakia.

An attempt by the Arab states to start a Palestine debate during the voting on the Czech resolution, which was defeated, was halted by the committee chairman. Explaining his abstention, the Syrian delegate charged that the Zionist movement was a movement of national aggression and began a discussion of the Palestine Arab refugee issue. At this point, the chairman insisted that he restrict his remarks to the text of the resolution.

The Lebanese delegate similarly explained his abstention on the grounds that the debate involved the question of Zionist subversion. The Iraqi delegate said he was in no position to judge the issue, adding he abstained because “Zionism is a destructive movement from which we have suffered in past years.” The Egyptian delegate said he also abstained because the Zionist question was involved.