Congress Gets Resolution Asking U.S. Intervention for Jews in Russia

A resolution calling on the House to unanimously endorse a request for direct intervention by President Kennedy with the Soviet Government against anti-Jewish discriminations practiced in Russia was introduced today in the House of Representatives by Congressman Charles Buckley, New York Democrat.

The resolution asks President Kennedy “to convey to the Soviet Union an expression of the grave concern of the people of the United States over growing anti-Semitism, and to seek assurances that prompt and appropriate action be taken to stop all forms of bigotry and race hatred against the Jewish people now living in the Soviet Union.”

At the same time, Rep. Buckley asked the President to prevail upon Soviet authorities to permit Russian Jews “who desire to do so” to leave and seek haven “in Israel and other free lands.” The resolution also asked that the President “take all possible immediate steps through the United States delegation to the United Nations” to bring to world attention the facts about “the cruel mistreatment of the Jewish people living within the Soviet Union to the end that such mistreatment should cease.”

In introducing his resolution, Rep. Buckley said that although Jews “are not being executed or shipped off to Siberia,” Russian anti-Jewish activities are taking “a subtle but vicious form prevalent in many parts of the Soviet Union today.” He said that Soviet behavior towards Jews “makes it quite clear that the Moscow terror has for its real target the eradication of religion itself.”

The New York Times described this weekend, in a dispatch from Moscow, a scene in a Moscow synagogue in which the Chief Rabbi and a dozen lay Jewish leaders implored the congregation to shun contacts with visiting Israeli diplomats. The meeting ended with a resolution asking congregants to avoid dealings with Israelis and called on Israelis to stop giving presents to Russian Jews.