Sixty-three Jewish communal leaders in the Chicago area flew into Washington yesterday and met at the Capitol with Sen. Adlai Stevenson (D.Ill.), and 18 of the 23 Illinois members of the House of Representatives. The purpose of the visit, said Maynard Wishner, chairman of the public affairs committee of the Jewish United Fund of Chicago which sponsored the visit, was to meet the members of the Illinois delegation in the new Congress and indicate areas of Jewish concern and obtain the views of the legislators.
The principal topics, Wishner said, were the survival of an independent, secure Israel and the impact of the Arab boycott and discrimination against Jews on American life. “We found them very positive,” Wishner said about the Congressmen’s response, “There was no evidence of ‘erosion’ and their expressions of support were first rate. One Congressman whose reported statements had been given as evidence of erosion explained almost the opposite position than what had been reported.”
The leaders lunched with the Congressmen in the Rayburn House office building with Rep. Sidney Yates as host, Yates and Abner Mikvah, both Democrats, are the only Jewish members of the Illinois delegation. Later, the leaders met with Stevenson. This meeting, Wishner said, was “equally constructive.” He quoted Stevenson as saying. “The day the United States would sell Israel down the river for a barrel of oil, that day the United States would no longer be a great power.”
Asked about the absence from the meetings of Sen. Charles H. Percy (R.Ill.), Wishner said that Percy had a prior commitment to speak in New York City. He also said that the arrangements for the leaders’ visit began last year, long before Percy’s Middle East trip that brought among other comments the Senator’s suggestion that Israel contact the Palestine Liberation Organization and his description of PLO chief Yasir Arafat as “relatively moderate.” Percy’s comments had evoked deep anger among many Chicago Jewish leaders. The leaders’ visit was the first of its scope. Previously, smaller groups had met with Congressional members. (By Joseph Polakoff)
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