More than 100,000 persons poured into midtown Manhattan today in an angry, militant but orderly and well disciplined mass demonstration of protest against the anti-Zionist resolution adopted by the UN General Assembly last night, Whites and Blacks, Jews and Christians from New York and other cities as far off as Dallas and Toronto packed the garment district.
The human tide filled every block from 42nd to 39th streets and Sixth to Seventh Avenues, chanting and bearing placards with such slogans us “The UN is Dead” “Anti-Zionism is Racism” “Is the UN the Fourth Reich?” and “Protect the UN From its Own Racists.”
Hundreds of Israeli flags were waved by young and old as speaker after speaker proclaimed solidarity and support for Israel and declared that it was the UN Itself, not Israel, that was wounded by its own action.
Traffic was blocked off from the entire area of the demonstration, Hundreds of police were present, assisted by marshals provided by the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, organizer of the demonstration. Similar rallies were held today in major cities throughout the U.S.
RALLYING FOR JUSTICE MORALITY
Rabbi Israel Miller, Conference chairman who presided, told the demonstrators. “The voices of hate are raised against Zionism but are directed at all free people, The Arab and Communist totalitarian dictatorships and their cohorts are again using the big lie to challenge and undermine the values of the civilized world. They must not triumph, They will not triumph. Liberty and justice will live. The Jewish people will live, Israel will live.”
Continuing, Rabbi Miller declared: “We are not merely rallying against racism and anti-Semitism, We are rallying for international justice, decency, morality, for liberal democracy, for values which gave birth to the United Nations for the Jewish people and for Israel.”
Rabbi Miller warned that the UN resolution “could wreak havoc with Jewish life not only in the Soviet Union–which would now have a UN approved excuse to crush the movement of those seeking to emigrate to Israel –but in other countries that have permitted local Zionist organizations to function without official hindrance. The effect, not only on Zionist groups but on Jewish life generally, would be catastrophic,” Rabbi Miller said.
MESSAGE FROM PRESIDENT FORD
A message from President Ford to the Presidents Conference was read at the rally. The President said. “Your gathering here today is a reaffirmation of the American belief in justice and basic human values. I salute you for the depths of your conviction and for the spirit which motivates this rally.” The President’s message went on to say:
“We strongly deplore the linkage of Zionism and racism, We are equally firm in our belief that racism, in its real form, should cease to exist. The United Nations is weakened and its credibility suffers when it takes action, under whatever guise, which serve only to debase the principles upon which the UN was founded and to which its charter is dedicated, I assure you the United States will remain steadfast in its support of freedom and democracy, Justice and the rights of all people.”
TUMULTUOUS CHEERS FOR HERZOG
Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, Chaim Herzog, was greeted with tumultuous cheers when he rose to speak, Referring to his dramatic gesture after the General Assembly vote last night when he lore the anti-Zionist resolution in view of all the delegates, Herzog declared, “I tore it up in your behalf and thus, for we Jews, it no longer exists.”
The Israeli envoy largely reiterated his remarks before the General Assembly last night. (Sec separate story) He said here today that while addressing the Assembly. “I somehow sensed at that moment the feeling of the Jewish heart beating as one throughout the world,” He praised the U.S. delegation to the UN and observed that the European community, too, stood up for Israel in “a most impressive manner.” Herzog added that for the first time in many years, “the majority of the Black African nations refused to support an anti-Israel resolution in the face of Arab pressure.”
‘MASTER OF OUR OWN FATE’
Mrs. Leah Rabin, wife of Israeli Premier Yitzhak Rabin, who addressed the rally, declared that Jews will no longer he objects of persecution because there is a State of Israel. “We are the master of our own fate,” she said. “We are the only ones to decide our future.” She declared that the Jewish people, combined with Israel, constitute a strength that has made anti-Semitism meaningless.
Sen. Jacob K. Javits (R.NY) told the rally: “As one who has been a diligent supporter of the United Nations since its founding. I am hard put to continue my support for the UN in the face of criticism by my colleagues in the Congress, if such offensive nonsense as this latest PLO-inspired resolution is given the solemnity of a document of the United Nations itself. And when a tyranny of the majority rams it through the General Assembly, the American people have every right to demand to know what kind of an organization it is that their tax dollars are supporting.”
DISSERVICE TO BLACK PEOPLE
Bayard Rustin, the civil rights leader, and Manhattan Borough President Percy Sutton spoke for the American Black community, Rustin declared that “the racists who enslaved my people” are trying to make racists out of some of the most prominent defenders of civil rights and opponents of racism who are Jews. He called the anti-Zionist resolution a disservice to every Black person in America because it weakens the real light against
Feminist leader Betty Friedan said she joined the protest demonstration “as a woman, as an American and as a Jew.” She called on al women to protest and denounce the racist resolution adopted by the UN. Fay Schenk, president of the American Zionist Federation, said the attack on Zionism is clearly an attack on the Jewish people. “When Zionism is attacked, Judaism is attacked,” she said. Clarence Mitchell Jr., a member of the U.S. Mission to the UN, said those countries that voted against the anti-Zionist measure were “voted out of conscience that impels them to stand for freedom and democracy.”
The Rev. Paul Moore, Episcopal Bishop of New York, said that all Christians are spiritually Jews and that in a moment of great danger such as the present one, not only Jews are threatened, He expressed support of Zionism and the right of Israel to live in peace and security.
A large contingent of the Jewish Defense League attended the rally. They carried a huge banner proclaiming “Herzog Was Right. The Jewish Leadership Must Be Changed.” The slogan was a reference to Herzog’s recent criticism that Jews in the U.S. and in Israel reacted too passively when the anti-Zionist draft was first adopted by the General Assembly’s Third Committee last month. Herzog explained subsequently that his criticism was directed at the Jewish man-in-the-street, not the American Jewish leadership.
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.
