U.S. Considers Moscow Charge As ‘concentrated Attack’ on Soviet Jews

The charge made by the Moscow newspaper “Trud” that Israeli diplomats in Russia are spying for the United States Government’s Central Intelligence Agency appears to be further evidence of the Soviet Union’s “concentrated attack on its Jewish population,” a State Department spokesman told the Jewish Telegraphic Agency today.

The spokesman scoffed at the charge, asserting that the Central Intelligence Agency has long been a favorite-target of Soviet propagandists. He speculated that the newest charge against the CIA–recruiting Israeli diplomats for espionage work in Russia–which he described as “a two-in-one shot,” was aimed at discrediting both the U.S. Intelligence arm and Russian Jews.

Meanwhile, two members of the U.S. Congress, Rep. William Fitts Ryan and Rep. Herbert Zelenko–both from New York–requested that the United States delegation at the United Nations introduce a resolution at the UN condemning Russia for persecuting Jews.

Mr. Ryan also sent a telegram to President Kennedy and Secretary of State Dean Rusk, warning of “terrifying dangers facing Soviet Jews.” He stated in his wires that “like the opening step of Nazi pogroms,” the Soviet accusations against Israeli diplomats are “obviously calculated to open the way for full persecution, imprisonment or death for Soviet Jews.”