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Bush Says Charge of Dual Loyalty is ‘scurrilous’

April 6, 1982
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Vice President George Bush yesterday denounced as “scurrilous” charges of dual loyalty against American Jews who opposed the sale of AWACS reconnaissance planes to Saudi Arabia last year and declared that “the worst example of anti-Semitism to be found today is in the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union.”

His denunciation of dual loyalty charges was similar to that he made last month at the third annual United Jewish Appeal Young Leadership Conference which was held in Washington.

Bush yesterday addressed some 600 Jewish community leaders attending a reception here in honor of Jacob Stein who recently resigned as special advisor to the White House. He told the gathering at Temple Israel that the U.S. would continue to work for the right of free emigration for Jews in the Soviet Union.

CAMP DAVID IS THE ONLY ROAD TO PEACE

The Vice President spoke in response to Rabbi Mordecai Waxman, senior rabbi of Temple Israel, who, in presenting special awards to Stein and Bush, expressed some of the concerns of the Jewish community with respect to the Reagan Administration’s domestic and foreign policies. “The charge of dual loyalty is a scurrilous charge and did not come from the White House, ” Bush said.

He stressed that the Administration will follow the Camp David agreements as the only path to peace in the Middle East. He also reiterated the U.S. policy of not recognizing the Palestine Liberation Organization unless and until it recognizes the State of Israel and foregoes terrorism.

Stein, a former chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, was honored for his services to the White House and as a member of the U.S. delegation to the United Nations Human Rights Commission conference in Geneva.

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