Rep. Christian Herter, vice-chairman of H.E.L.P.–Holyland Emergency Liaison Program–resigned today, expressing a critical view of the “political objectives” of the pro-Arab propaganda organization.
Rep. Herter was the only Congressman named on the staff of H.E.L.P. The organization includes outspoken anti-Zionists such as Kermit Roosevelt, Alfred M. Lilienthal and Lessing J. Rosenwald, president of the American Council for Judaism. In a letter to Dr. Henry Slcane Coffin, chairman of the National Council of H.E.L.P. and former president of the Union Theological Seminary, Rep. Herter said:
“This step is being taken because membership in the National Council of H.E.L.P. places me in an inconsistent position. It has long been a primary concern of mine that there should be a strong Israel which can offer a haven to the countless persecuted Jews of the world. The National Council of H.E.L.P. as presently organized is made up in large part of persons who have publicly taken a position against the creation of an independent Israel and there has, therefore, been created a reasonable inference that the political objectives of the Council and those of Israel will be in conflict.”
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.
