The State of Israel is 50-70 per cent under Communist influence, according to the John Birch Society’s “Scoreboard,” published in the July-August issue of its publication, “American Opinion.” By the same yardstick, the right-wing group holds that the United States, too, is in the 50-70 per cent Communist control category.
Among Israel’s neighbors, Syria is listed as 100 per cent under Communist influence; Yemen is considered 90-100 per cent under Communist control; Egypt is listed at 80-100 percent, as is Iraq; Lebanon and Saudi Arabia are described as 60-80 per cent under Communist control; and Jordan at 20-40 per cent.
The Israel “score” increased by 10 per cent from the 1958 Birchite appraisal because of Israel’s alleged failure to deal sternly with Soviet espionage scandals, the “probably permanent retirement of (David) Ben-Gurion from political life,” and Israel’s toleration if not encouragement of “race war” in Africa.
The publication carries an article on the Middle East by Samuel L. Blumenfeld, a New York editor, in which Israel is described as “a little country sitting on the eastern shore of the Mediterranean, created in part for the purpose of keeping the Arabs busy fighting a phantom while the Council on Foreign Relations-Kremlin combine takes over lock, stock and barrel with little or no resistance from the natives.”
The article says Israelis “are controlled by a Socialist clique which has monopolized political power from the early days of Jewish colonization.” It describes Prime Minister Levi Eshkol as Russian-born, and asserts that “in the past decade, he has been chiefly responsible for the Socialist economic policies in Israel, which have driven many of Israel’s most productive citizens to emigrate to other countries.”
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.
