Jewish and Zionist organizations in the United States and abroad denounced the attack on Zionism in the United Nations, which equated it with racial discriminations, as itself a form a racism and anti-Semitism, a perversion of the nature of Zionism and another step in the campaign against Israel. Spokesmen for the organizations also praised the action of the United States, the nine member states of the European Common Market and other statement that voted against the resolution.
A statement adopted at an emergency meeting of the American Zionist Federation here declared: “The attack on Zionism, the national self-determination movement of the Jewish people, is an attempt at perverting the United Nations. The United Nations was established to prevent the recurrence of racism. It is now being turned into a mechanism to perpetuate racism.”
Zionism, the AZF stated, “was born on the battlefield against imperialism. Zionism is the love of Zion, the Jewish people’s liberation movement, the Jewish people’s statement of freedom and equality. Zionism is as sacred to the Jewish people as the national self-determination movements are to the nations of Africa and Asia. Zionism stands for cooperation and understanding with all peoples and with their national movements.”
Rabbi Israel Miller, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, termed the draft resolution “an outrageous and disgusting display of immorality.” He said, “We consider the draft resolution as directed not only against Israel but against the entire Jewish people and its heritage with Israel as its center. Its fulfillment is a response to racism and genocide.”
Rabbi Miller applauded the 29 nations “who voted against this latest effort to promote world-wide anti-Semitism.” He said “We are particularly proud of the unequivocal stance and forthright words spoken by our country’s representatives at the UN. We take seriously the warning by the U.S. that the draft resolution placed in jeopardy the work of the UN itself.”
OIL POWER BLINDED JUSTICE
David M. Blumberg, president of the B’nai B’rith called the vote in the UN’s Social, Humanitarian and Cultural Committee “a shameful example of racism and anti-Semitism.” He declared that “Arab oil power apparently can blind many governments to plain truth and simple justice. There is no finer nor more genuine example of a national liberation movement than Israel.” The B’nai B’rith leader, who is leaving on a tour of Latin American countries observed that many of the Latin-American nations which voted for the resolution and voted to establish Israel as a state in 1948 have “now diminished themselves by accepting racism.”
Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson, chairman of the American Section of the World Zionist Organization, said in a message cabled from Jerusalem: “The United Nations is weakening itself and destroying any possibility of fulfilling its original high purpose by permitting these lies and slanders to be circulated and given official sanction by the General Assembly.” Mrs. Jacobson called on the Zionist movement and the American Jewish community to promptly and forcefully reject the Arab-inspired moves “to distort the meaning of Zionism and vilify the people of Israel and its friends and supporters as racist.”
ANOTHER STEP AGAINST ISRAEL
Rabbi Arthur Hertzberg, president of the American Jewish Congress, declared: “The action of the Third Committee is another predictable step in the campaign being waged by some member states of the United Nations against the State of Israel. The only thing new is that this campaign now has been expanded to include an assault upon the interests of the Jewish people generally….The effort to equate Zionism with racism is as preposterous as it is arrogant…. Racism is as alien to Zionism as democracy is to many of the proponents of the resolution….”
The Executive Committee of the National Jewish Community Relations Advisory Council (NJCRAC) meeting here today called the anti-Zionist draft resolution “a massive lie” which makes “a travesty of words as some of its sponsors have done with other words like Peoples Democracies,” and “a deliberate effort to foment anew that most ancient and vicious of prejudices, anti-Semitism.”
Rabbi Joseph P. Sternstein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, likened approval of the anti-Zionist draft resolution to “the dark days of Hitler’s Germany.” He said the UN, “constituted to prevent man’s inhumanity to man, became once again the vehicle for the perpetuation of racism and blatant anti-Semitism.” He observed that the UN action “is a direct attack on the Jewish people everywhere, a call for genocide and a challenge to all humanity.”
FEEDING THE HATE-MONGERS
Rabbi Alexander M. Schindler, president of the Union of American Hebrew Congregations, said the draft resolution “feeds the hate-mongers of the world and places the future of the international body in serious jeopardy. When this international body becomes a forum for anti-Semitic propaganda, offering encouragement to the racists of the world, its effectiveness as a peaceful agency has ceased to exist.”
Mrs. Evelyn Schreiber, president of the American Mizrachi Women, praised the U.S. government today for branding as “an obscene act” the draft resolution. Addressing 500 delegates attending the 50th anniversary Jubilee Year Convention of the American Mizrachi Women which opened in Washington, Mrs. Schreiber said: “Attacks on Zionism are attacks on the Jewish people and therefore are anti-Semitic. Zionism is nothing more than the national liberation of the Jewish people in its own homeland. The Jewish people are entitled to a national homeland.”
The WIZO of Brazil cabled UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim today protesting against the attempt by the enemies of the Jewish people to adopt a resolution at the UN equating Zionism with racism. The motion of protest was adopted at the 11th convention of WIZO in Brazil.
In London, where he was attending the annual conference of the Council of Christians and Jews, Cardinal Heenan warned against the resurgence of anti-Semitism in the guise of anti-Zionism. He did not refer to the UN draft resolution.
CANADIANS INSTRUCTED TO VOTE AGAINST DRAFT
Allan McEachen, Canada’s Minister of State for External Affairs, met in Ottawa with a delegation of the Canada-Israel Committee a few days before the vote in the UN took place and told them that the Canadian delegation to the UN Third Committee had been instructed to vote against any resolution linking Zionism to colonialism, racism and apartheid. He stressed that until now Canada had only abstained in action during which Israel was attacked or when anti-Israel resolutions were up for a vote. The CIC met with McEachen to express concern over the politicalization of the UN and particularly efforts to deny the legitimacy of Israel.
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.
