Jewish Groups Hail Senate’s Resolution Against Arab Discrimination

All major national Jewish organizations issued statements today welcoming the United States Senate’s unanimous adoption of a resolution establishing that “it is a primary principle of our nation that there shall be no discrimination among U.S. citizens based on their individual religious affiliations.” The resolution is aimed at checking Arab discrimination against American citizens of Jewish faith.

A joint statement hailing the Senate resolution was issued through the National Community Relations Advisory Council by the following organizations affiliated with the Council: The American Jewish Congress, Jewish Labor Committee, Jewish War Veterans of the United States of America, Union of American Hebrew Congregations, Union of Orthodox Jewish Congregations of America and the United Synagogue of America.

The maintenance of this principle, the joint statement of the six organizations said, “will require prompt correction of present policies under which agencies of our government have seemed to acquiesce in discrimination by foreign governments against American citizens. Thus, vigorous efforts should now be made by the State Department to obtain abandonment of the practice by certain foreign governments of denying visas to American citizens who are Jewish. There must also be an end to the screening of American troops and personnel designed to exclude Jews from assignment to American bases in any part of the world. No subsidy can now be made by the Federal Government to support or make possible international trade from which American citizens are excluded because of the religious prejudices of other nations.”

The American Jewish Committee, in a statement commending the action of the Senate, pointed out that the Senate “has rendered all Americans and the cause of Constitutional freedom a significant service, for it has made clear to the world that this nation honors its constitutional commitments to all of its citizens and its commitment to the charter of the United Nations.” The Committee declared that the resolution underscored effectively “the fact that discrimination against one group of Americans necessarily invades the rights of all Americans.”

The passage of the resolution by the Senate protesting discrimination directed against American citizens on the basis of religious affiliations was also commended by B’nai B’rith. Executive vice president Maurice Bisgyer called it a step in the right direction toward restoring the rights of American Jews in their pursuit of lawful trade, travel, and other activities abroad. A similar statement was issued by the Anti-Defamation League of the B’nai B’rith.