Sen. Javits Refutes Charges by Arab Propagandists and Critics of U. J. A.

Senator Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican, asserted tonight that charges by “Arab propagandists and other critics” that contributions to the United Jewish Appeal were “tantamount” to contributions to the Government of Israel and therefore not true philanthropy were “baseless.”

Speaking before the Men’s Club of Temple Israel here, Sen. Javits took issue with a statement by James P. Warburg, former banker and writer on international affairs, that the United Jewish Appeal engaged in a “high-handed procedure” in refusing to “segregate funds contributed for relief or for cultural purposes” from funds that went “directly or indirectly” into the Treasury of Israel. Mr. Warburg made his statement in an address Friday night to Congregation Mishkan Israel in New Haven, Connecticut.

Senator Javits said he wanted to set the facts “absolutely straight out of respect for the great humanitarian work which is involved for a people as harassed and persecuted over the centuries as have been the Jewish people, who have now found a haven in Israel.” He said this also was necessary “for the hundreds of thousands of Americans of all faiths who have contributed so generously to one of our country’s leading philanthropic efforts.”

“Contrary to what is charged,” the Senator declared, “the United Jewish Appeal does not raise money for the State of Israel. Its funds are used for such philanthropic purposes as refugee aid, overseas relief in 25 countries and the resettlement and rehabilitation of refugees in this country as well as Israel. Since most of the refugees go to Israel, the largest percentage of UJA funds is spent there.”

LAUDS U.J.A. ACHIEVEMENTS; STRESSES U.S. GOVERNMENT’S VIEW ON ISRAEL

The Senator emphasized that “even the United States Government does not, in giving aid to Israel, seek to impose its views. Certainly the United Jewish Appeal does not do so.” He stressed that the United States recognizes Israel as a bastion of democracy and as an important force for freedom in the Middle East. “I have long been convinced that aid to the settlers in Israel through the United Jewish Appeal is a philanthropic endeavor in the highest interest of the United States. Also, I have urged United States Government aid for the government and people of Israel,” he declared.

Commenting that the UJA was “as indigenous to American philanthropy as it is to Jewish philanthropy,” Senator Javits said that the UJA was “a voluntary association whose essence is voluntary giving by Jews all over the country and in other lands through their local community organizations, and at the behest of their local community leaders.” The pattern which guided the UJA, he said, “is as American as the town meeting. It is the same general pattern as that followed by Catholic and Protestant philanthropic and missionary organizations.”

“The UJA represents a staggering achievement in the saving of human lives,” the Senator said. “There is nothing equal to it. It was the most effective and most direct way in which Americans could respond to the call for help which came from millions of Jews who were uprooted and despoiled. They did this freely, as individuals, without calling upon their government for help in this humanitarian work of resettlement but relying heavily on themselves to provide the necessary means.

“Like other American voluntary philanthropic institutions, the facts about the UJA are public; they are available in print. The arrangements for the distribution of funds which are made between the constituent organizations of the UJA, the conditions governing the voluntary cooperation of local community organizations with the UJA, the total amount of the funds received and their distribution are all a matter of public record,” Sen. Javits emphasized.