A demand that the West German Government do everything in its power to end the “criminal occupation” of German scientists helping Egypt to prepare weapons of destruction for Israel was voiced in a resolution adopted by the current meeting of the World Zionist Actions Committee at its final session today.
The resolution also called on all enlightened governments and world public opinion to express anxiety over “this new threat to the Jewish people ingathering in its homeland.”
Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, touching on the issue of West German scientists working for the Nasser regime, said that Germany, more than any other country, should be sufficiently sensitive to the issues to forbid its nationals to participate in this kind of “so-called scientific work.”
He said he hoped that a large part of the German people and their leaders were aware of this. He contended that there was much that could be done to rectify the situation, apart from the legal framework in which West German authorities have been considering the issue.
EXPRESSES CONCERN OVER ANTI JEWISH ACTS IN RUSSIA
Another resolution noted Soviet Premier Khrushchev’s statement, in a letter to British philosopher Bertrand Russell, that anti-Semitism was outlawed in the Soviet Union but stressed that to date there had been no tangible signs to indicate that Soviet authorities were acting against anti-Semitic manifestations in Russia.
The resolution expressed concern over the high percentage of Jews receiving death sentences for alleged economic crimes and noted that the Jewishness of those so convicted was being given special prominence in Russia.
The resolution expressed dismay over the fact that for the second year in a row, the baking of matzoth in state bakeries had been discontinued. The delegates cited the difficulties encountered in supplying Soviet Jews with matzoth from abroad.
Decrying the systematic shutdowns of synagogues by Soviet officials, the resolution asserted that the Jewish minority in Russia was discriminated against in comparison with other religious minorities and added that no progress had been made in meeting the cultural and national needs of Soviet Jewry.
The resolution also noted the cutting off of Soviet Jewry from contact with all other Jewish communities “even in the humanitarian matter of uniting families” severed by the events of the past decade.
Another resolution expressed concern over the reappearance of evidence of Nazi-inspired hate in a number of Latin American countries. The resolution expressed faith that the Latin American peoples, faithful to their democratic tradition, would awaken to the danger threatening that tradition. The resolution voiced satisfaction over the “growing aliyah” from Latin America.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
