Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson, chairman, World Zionist Organization-American Section, and Jacob Stein, chairman Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, sent separate telegrams to Berndt Von Staden, West German Ambassador to the United States, expressing shock and sadness over the “so-called policy of ‘neutrality’ ” which the West German government invoked in the recent war.
Noting that this policy “in effect gives aid to the aggressor Arab nations and has hurt Israel considerably in its efforts to defend its integrity and security,” Mrs. Jacobson added: “No nation, more than the Federal Republic of West Germany, should be more desirous of assisting in the survival of the three million Jews of Israel, many of whom are survivors of the Nazi holocaust. Further, as an ally of the United States, it seems strange that your government does not aid in every possible way the efforts of the United States to provide assistance to beleaguered Israel in its time of dire need.”
Stein, in his telegram, stated: “We urge you to offer support to Israel as she fights for her life. We urge you to support the efforts of the U.S. to maintain the balance of military power in the Middle East, so vital to the very existence of all of Europe, West Germany included, to the U.S. and the people of the free world in general. It is a historic injustice for West Germany to be a part, even by implication, in the Arab effort to add the name of three million Jews in Israel as a further chapter to the Nazi holocaust period.” Both telegrams expressed the hope that the present policy of West Germany will be changed so as to remove the barriers in the way of American efforts to aid Israel.
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.
