A Zionist leader said here today that American Jews will have to tell Americans over and over again that the oil shortage is not the result of the Yom Kippur War but because the United States is “not an abundant nation any more” and because there had been “no planning and no foresight” to meet shortages.
Dr. Judah J. Shapiro, president of the Labor Zionist Alliance, said the Arabs are waging their most significant battle against Israel in a bloodless and inexpensive propaganda offensive by their embargo of oil to the Western nations and Japan and blaming Israel for forcing them to do this. He warned that there is a real danger that the fuel shortage may lead to an anti-Jewish anti-Israel backlash in some sections of the population seeking a scapegoat for a fuel-less winter and gas-less cars.
This prediction has already become a reality. The Jewish Telegraphic Agency has received reports from the Midwest that cars are sprouting bumper stickers reading, “We Need Oil More Than Jews.” and, “We Can Do Without Jews But We Can’t Do Without Oil.”
The Anti-Defamation League of B’nai B’rith, during its 60th anniversary meeting at the Waldorf Astoria last weekend, announced a nation-wide educational campaign would be undertaken by its 28 regional offices to counter Arab black-mail by using oil as a political weapon to dictate the U.S. government’s foreign policy.
ARABS DECIDED TACTIC BEFORE WAR
The ADL said its campaign would seek to tell Americans “not to be fooled by Arab propaganda that seeks to equate a shortage of oil for heating homes or gasoline for driving cars with this nation’s support of Israel.” The ADL also stated that the Arab decision to “squeeze their customers” was decided long before the Yom Kippur War and would have made that decision even if Israel did not exist.
Dr. Shapiro, addressing a recent meeting of the American Habonim Association, a division of the LZA, told the 150 delegates, “There is going to be a shortage because there is going to be a movement to new sources of energy, such as coal, and until these new sources are developed, there may be shortages.” He noted that “Israel hardly comes into the picture of oil and gas except to be exploited as a bogeyman by those who are out to profit by the shortages.”
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.
