The American Jewish Committee, in a statement issued here today sharply assailed a resolution adopted at the National Convention on New Politics in Chicago condemning “the imperialistic Zionist war” with a proviso that “this is not to imply anti-Semitism.” The resolution was forced through at the convention by the so-called Black Power Caucus, a group of militant Negroes.
“Anti-Semitism is intolerable, whether it comes from white or Negro, and whether it is expressed by a convention of the so-called new politics in Chicago or by the old politics of Gerald L.K. Smith and the late George Lincoln Rockwell,” the American Jewish Committee statement stressed. “Nor is it in any way mitigated by self-serving denials. For those who condemn what they call ‘the imperialist Zionist war’ between Israel and the Arab states are clearly parroting the discredited line of anti-Semites within the Soviet and Arab worlds.
“This is not to deny that Jews are sympathetic to the plight of the millions of American Negroes. For years now American Jewry, true to the prophetic tradition, has been in the vanguard of those fighting for the rights of all minorities in this country. Today, American Jews are leading in such efforts as the Urban Coalition to seek solutions to the agonizing problems of our cities.
“Expressions of anti-Semitism by Negroes — whether of those of the new politics or of S.N.C.C. are not going to stop American Jews from seeking justice for all. However, we would be remiss if we did not remind Negro anti-Semites that hatred begets hatred, and that they are doing a grave disservice to the very cause they maintain they are struggling for; and that members of the so-called Black Caucus at the Chicago convention seem hell-bent on pushing the United States toward apartheid of the South African type.”
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.
