Newspaper Page Text
Friday, November 20, 1959
TO* SOUTHERN ISRAELITE
Fife Three
PLAIN TALK—By Alfred Segal
Action and Reaction
Is the recent blast by Amer
ican Jewish Committee president
Herbert B. Ehmann against what
he called Jewish public relations
mishandling of the Khrushchev
visit to the United States fore
runner to a new inter-organiza
tional fight or an oblique intima
tion of a reversion to isolation
ism in Jewish affairs which the
committee was long believed to
have abandoned?
This writer has no ready an
swer to the question, but a num
ber of important non-committee
Jewish leaders he spoke to were
plainly incensed over the state
ment. One said: “If Mr. Ehrmann
would exclude ‘persons who were
identified as being primarily in
terested in promoting Zionist af
fairs’ from talking to Khrush
chev only by reason of his ‘hos
tile attitude toward Israel and
Zionism,’ he would be forced
to concede by the lo^ic of his
position that the only men of
Jewish competence to engage
Khrushchev in such talks are
the people of the American
Council for Judaism who certain
ly have a closer affinity with the
Soviet Premier on that score
than the people of the American
Jewish Committee.” He went on
saying it would be “mockery to
foreclose Zionists from parti
cipating in Jewish affairs on a
global scale just because certain
of the chancellories that might
have to be dealt with are hostile
to Zionism and Israel.” Zionists,
he added, “are preoccupied with
Jewish continuity everywhere,
IT'S HERE
the most
Event of the Year
Shearith
Israel
AUCTION
including Russia.”
Another Jewish leader told us
he thought the committee “ar
rogant” for thinking it alone
could do the job “through the
now thoroughly discredited
‘court Jew’ medium.” This man
was among the few Jewish lead
ers who was of the opinion that
efforts to secure a meeting with
Khrushchev could only prove
damaging. In fact, he was even
opposed to the idea of having
President Eisenhower raise the
Jewish issue in his Camp David
talks with the Soviet Premier.
He could not, however, see how
public disclosure of Jewish in
tention in the U.S. to forge a
united front with respect to so
important a matter as the situa
tion of the Jews in the Soviet
Union could possibly divert Mr.
Khrushchev from meeting with
Jewish leaders if he in fact ever
contemplated that measure. “The
motivation behind Khrushchev’s
refusal to confer with Jewish
leaders was not Jewish press cov
erage, nor even the multiple re
quests that were made on his
time, but sheer global politics,”
he told us.
A prominent ‘ Jewish figure
who attended the World Jewish
Congress parley in Stockholm
told this writer he was present
at the session where Philip M.
Klutznick announced that Pre
mier Khrushchev had indicated
willingness to receive a delega
tion of American Jewish leaders
on his visit to the United States,
and although he personally was
opposed to such efforts he felt
the commitment was such that
it could not be abandoned now.
“The committee says in retros
pect that ‘no word had ever been
received by any Jewish group or
Jewish leader from Mr. Khrush
chev or his representatives that
such a meeting would be held,’
but if that is so the World Jewish
Congress has been the victim of
the vilest hoax that has ever
been perpetrated on a respon
sible Jewish body, ” this infor
mant assured me. From indepen
dent sources I have learned that
intimation of Khrushchev’s will
ingness to confer with U.S. Jew
ish leaders came from excellent
sources. In fact those sources
were said to have held out an
assurance that the Soviet Pre
mier on his visit to the U.S.
would be accompanied by a group
of experts on Jewish affairs in
the Soviet Union, including'Uyah
Ehrenburg. It is simply incon
ceivable that a highly respected
Jewish figure, both in the U.S.
and on the global Jewish scene,
would have been permitted to
make a positive statement about
a projected meeting with Krush
chev if the evidence were not
overwhelmingly in that direc
tion.
I have no behind-the-scene
knowledge of what transpired be
tween President Eisenhower and
B’nai B’rith president Label Katz
when the latter presented the
President of the United States
with his organization’s highest
award beyond what I read in the
press. But it would seem to have
been only natural for Mr. Katz
to touch upon the painful prob
lem of Soviet Jewry. Certainly
he was not acting without pre
cedent. How a conversation of
that kind can be described as
harmful just because it was car
ried on by a representaton of
American-Jewish Committee vin
tage is as much a mystery in
semantics as it is in logic. The
story of the President’s conver
sation with Premier Khrushchev
at Camp David was broken long
after the Soviet chief left the
country, and by a source close to
the White House. How could such
disclosure be harmful?
It is the committee’s position
that such an approach is “harm
ful to the cause of Russian Jew
ry because it may give the im
pression to the Soviet leaders
that important American person
alities on their own are not con
cerned” with the problem. Here
the committee is displaying al
most incredible naivite. An ex
amination of its own releases
and statements over recent years
would yield innumerable in
stances when hostile elements
approached on Jewish matters by
“important American personali
ties on their own” hurfcd back
the black charge that those men
were catering to Jewish interests
merely out of deference to “the
Jewish vote.”
The day of the "court Jew” is
dead and all the embellishments
that went with that procedure.
In Paris some two weeks ago,
Dr. Nahum Goldmann wisely
observed that he thought French
Jewry ought not to make any ef
fort to see Khrushchev when he
visits France if only to avoid
•V
WE TOP
'EM ALL
Over 50 years of Business Integrity
GHAS. N. WALKER
.ROOFING CO.
JAckion 7*747 v
1W1 Houston St , N E , Atlanta Go.
WHEN YOU CALL
mi TtRMin INSPICTION
CALL TR. 2-4734
24-HR. SERVICE
SUNDAY
Nov. 22nd
7 P.M.
Shearith Israel
Social Hall
SET OF FOUR
RETREADS
11S0 University
Drive, N. E.
Come, Have Fun
Save Money
EVERYONE
INVITED
REFRESHMENTS
*35 52
• Ixahant*
ONE-DAY SERVICE
Other sises equally low priced
Using Dixie Cap Premium Tread Rubber
Guaranteed for 12 Months
NO MONEY DOWN
C&S Charge Service
Up to 12 Month* to Pay
CONVENIENT LOCATION
2045 Peachtree Rd.
NIXT TO THI DARLINGTON‘APT*.
OPEN 8 AM—6 PM. TR. 4-8009
* Exchange Meana fUtreadable Tlrei Otherwise Add i.00 Blarffc
4.00 en Whitewall.
6.70-15
or
7.50-14
turning the Jewish problem in
the Soviet Union into an element
of the cold war. Perhaps a way
will yet be found to ameliorate
the Jewish situation in fhe So
viet Union through conversations
with Khrushchev in u climate of
his own choosing. The pilgrims
to Moscow then will have to be
sages in diplomacy, a quality of
character that is not determined
either by Zionist or non-Zionist
affiliation.
Davis House
of Fine Foods
CAFETERIAS
Atlanta - Athens
•Macon - Albany
Oak Ridge
oiamour FOLDING LORGNETTE
$4
95
JOY OPTICAL C0.*lct(.t», atc.fand
ppd.
Ideal “Different"
Gift
Now, you can
• ailly riid
menui, p h o n a
booki, prlca
*4 Fifth Ava.
stay s m a r t 1 ’
chic. Just whlsl-
t h1s lovely
lorgnette from
Naw York 11, N.Y. your purse and
read with ease
— without awkward fumbling for
glasses. Beautifully bejeweled. It
folds compactly so you can keep It
handy Dark simulated tortoise shell
or Pink simulated pear lorgnette
with sparkling fake jewels in •
fill floral case. (Also Available
beautifu
Back To
Life
SA L El
Eli Grant has reopened
RO
CUSTOM BUILT
FURNITURE CO.
after a Ion# and serious illness.
He offers fantastic values on all mer
chandise to celebrate his recovery.
DO YOU HAVE PROBLEMS WITH
YOUR FURNITURE? NEED NEW
ITEMS TO COMPLIMENT OR FOCUS
YOUR HOME?
Need reupholstery, refinishing of a
sofa, chair or chest? A cabinet of any
description?
Let Eli Grant solve this
problem at tremendous
savings!
58 years’ experience in making fine furniture
of all descriptions is your guarantee. Special
sizes, decorator fabrics, unusual finishes are a
few of the special advantages which are easily
available by telephoning
JAckson 4-0067
Visit the factory at 506 Decatur Street and see
how your fine furniture can be made or repaired
at a REASONABLE cost. And we’ll keep the
showroom open evenings by appointment.
R 0 S E
CUSTOM BUILT
FURNITURE CO.
506 DECATUR ST., N.E. JA. 4-0067