Forty-nine distinguished Americans, alarmed by the sudden rise of anti-Semitism in Russia and Eastern Europe, and fearing its spread to the Middle East and Germany, made public today a four-point program of action submitted to President Eisenhower with the request that it be initiated by the United States and the United Nations in order to prevent disaster.
The request for action was contained in a letter addressed to President Eisen hower. Copies of the communication were sent to U.N. Secretary General Trygve Lie and Ambassador Henry Cabot Lodge, Jr., principal United States delegate to the U.N. Expressing fear lest some 3,000,000 Jews be exposed to physical violence, the signatories requested the President:
“1. To issue a solemn public condemnation and warning that this attack against the Jewish people is an incitement to massacre.
“2. As a deterrent, to declare that the help of the United States in terms of funds, Point Four aid, and other forms of assistance will be withheld from any country which engages in such attacks.
“3. To make clear to the Arab world the importance of reaching a formal settlement of the Palestine war as an end in itself and as a prerequisite to productive relations with the United States.
“4. To place on the agenda of the United Nations a proposal for the establishment of a ‘watchdog’ committee to prevent anti-Semitic violence anywhere as contrary to the Charter of the United Nations and the principle of peaceful association between countries.”
The communication underscored that the requests made are “in the interest not merely of possible new victims of a blood purge; they accord with the highest purposes of international morality and international peace.” Among the signatories are presidents of colleges, leaders of the church world, heads of theological seminaries, writers, educators and business leaders.
The group emphasizes in its communication that the present policy of the Soviet Government “could easily lead to a new epidemic of pogroms in countries where anti-Jewish feeling is overt or latent. Such countries include not only those in the Soviet bloc, but Germany, East and West, the Arab states and North Africa as well.” Fear is expressed that the Kremlin campaign has as one of its purposes to perpetuate a state of belligerency in the Middle East, which even if it did not produce anti-Semitic violence, could produce “a new demand for an armed assault against Israel.”
The International League for the Rights of Man, a non-governmental organization with U.N. consultative status, has appealed to Lester Pearson, president of the General Assembly, to have that body initiate a “serious inquiry through appropriate agencies” to try to halt the persecution of Jews in central and eastern Europe. It also asked the Assembly “to discover means for the persecuted to find refuge in other countries, notably Israel, and to render aid to all authorities and agencies in their humanitarian task.”
The appeal also pointed out that the Assembly through its attempts to outlaw genocide, to end persecution of racial and religions groups and to end discrimination, as well as to create an international body of law based on the decisions of the Nuremberg war crimes tribunal has both the right and the duty to act in this situation. The League’s plea said that the difference in the situation between the Hitler regime’s anti-Jewish activities and the present campaign is the UN’s attempts, through its Charter and elsewhere, to prevent such persecutions.
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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.