The World Conference of Jewish Organizations today closed its annual meeting here with an appeal to Jewish groups to refrain from “intervening in the affairs of Jewish communities in other lands” unless invited to do so.
The COJO appeal, in a resolution, urged organizations engaged in international affairs “to respect the autonomy and authority” of the representative Jewish groups in countries who “are competent to conduct their own affairs.” The resolution was approved in response to a plea by representatives of DAIA, the representative agency of Argentine Jewry, who criticized “the intensive actions of American organizations without prior discussion or clearance with the representative body of Argentine Jewry.”
Noting that Argentine Jewry had been troubled in recent years by neo-Nazi movements, the COJO directed its appeal to Jewish groups, “whether members of COJO or not.” It urged them not to intervene “without invitation from the central representative body, except where there is no representative body or such body has been deprived of the freedom to speak and act.”
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