The National Conference on Soviet Jewry announced today a four-point program to counter the hostile demonstrations in Moscow against the Israeli athletes participating in the World University Games. Jerry Goodman NCSJ executive director, told newsmen that his organization will send a formal protest to the International Federation of University Sports urging that Soviet athletes be barred from future international sports events the federation sponsors until Soviet authorities make a “full redress of wrongs” and an official apology.
Goodman also said that the NCSJ will demand that Moscow not be considered as a possible site for the 1980 Olympics. The NCSJ, he added, will try to halt collection of funds for the Olympics if Moscow is chosen for the games. Finally, he stated, the organization will gather protests by American sports figures.
The NCSJ, in a statement, noted that in contrast to the Soviet treatment of the Israeli athletes “in blatant violation of the spirit of international sports cooperation,” Russian athletes received friendly welcomes recently in the United States. “Clearly, efforts toward international cooperation on all levels have been flouted by the Soviet Union,” the statement said.
BOYCOTT SPORTS EVENTS IN SOVIET UNION
Meanwhile, in New York, the American Jewish Congress urged American athletes to refuse to take part in sports events in the Soviet Union and called on the U.S. Olympics Committee to fight any proposal to hold the 1980 Olympics in Moscow.
Citing the “frenzied anti-Semitic outbursts at the World Student Games in Moscow Tuesday, and the reluctance or refusal of Soviet officials to restrain the mobs that harassed the Israeli team and attacked their Russian Jewish supporters,” Howard M. Squadron, chairman of the AJ Congress’ Governing Council, declared that “the Soviet Union can no longer be considered a possible site for the 1980 Olympics.”
He said that “international amateur athletics are intended to imbue fraternity and fellowship among athletes everywhere. We can imagine no environment less conducive to such a goal than the Soviet Union today.” The AJ Congress sent a telegram to the U.S. Olympic committee and also urged the American delegates to the International Olympic Committee–Avery Brundage and Douglas Roby–to lead the fight against choosing Moscow for the 1980 Olympic meet.
(In Tel Aviv today, Jacob Stein, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said the events in Moscow were further evidence of the basic anti-Semitism in Russia which is condoned in official circles. He said that many U.S. Congressmen were aware of this situation and pose many question marks as to Russia’s qualification for U.S. economic assistance. Stein said the harassment of the Israeli student athletes in Moscow is a setback for Soviet efforts to improve relations with the U.S.)
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.
