Full Text of U. S. State Department Letter
Minimizes Judt vism Council's Jubilation:
Maclver, Ex-ITA T Director, Address Parley
WASHINGTON (JTA)—The De-
partment of State did not endorse
/-
any of the claims and charges
made by the American Council for
Judaism, alleging dual loyalty im-
plications in Zionism, and the As-
sistant Secretary of State for the
Near East, Phillips Talbot, re-
fused to meet with heads of the
Council on this subject.
/ ____„2 These facts emerged from the
full text of the letter sent by Tal-
bot to Council Vice President
Elmer Berger on April 20. The
Council released only parts of the
letter at its annual meeting here.
The full text of the letter reads:
"We have carefully studied
your letter of March 14, 1964,
drawing the Department of
State's attention to the ‘sui
generis character of the Jewish
people concept' and urging clari-
fication of the Department's
views with respect to the "Jew-
ish people claim.' You state:
The central point is that the
Zionist-Israel sovereignty uses
the Jewish people concept as the
basic juridical claim directed
against the Jews in states other
than Israel who insist upon
maintaining their single nation-
ality status.' Its principal func-
tion, you state, 'is to change the
legal status of Jews from that
of individual nationals of Jew-
ish religious faith to members
of a juridically recognized trans-
national nationality group with
additional 'rights' and obliga-
tions to the Zionist-Israel sover-
eignty. The core of the Jewish
people concept is its nationality
characteristic . .
"The Department of State
recognizes the State of Israel
as a sovereign state and citizen-
ship of the State of Israel. It
recognizes no other sovereignty
or citizenship in connection
therewith. It does not recognize
a legal-political relationship
based upon the religious identifi-
cation of American citizens. It
does not in any way discrim-
inate among American citizens
on the basis of their religion.
Accordingly, it should be clear
that the Department of State
does not regard the 'Jewish
people' concept as a concept of
international law.
"I remain doubtful that a
formal meeting of the type you
describe would lead to useful
results. As in the past, how-
ever, appropriate officers of the
department will be willing to
discuss any problem that may
arise, and the department will
always be happy to continue the
dialogue whenever occasion
warrants."
Clarence L. Coleman, Jr., pres-
ident of the American Council for
Judaism, in making public only
parts of Assistant Secretary Tal-
bot's letter, said that for 21 years
the Council has petitioned the
U. S. Government to clarify its
stand on the "Jewish people" con-
cept. "Tonight," he added, "I am
able to release for the first time
the text of the first unambiguous
and responsive reply received
from the U. S. Government." He
termed this as "an historic mo-
ment in the long, troubled history
of anti-Zionism."
Commenting on Coleman's par-
tial disclosure of the State De-
partment's statement, Rabbi Max
Nussbaum, president of the Zion-
ist Organization of America, de-
clared that the State Department
has said "something that the Jew-
ish community has accepted for
a long time." The American Zion-
ist Council, the coordinating body
of all Zionist organizations in the
United States, commented that
"the leadership of the Council for
Judaism is fully aware of the fact
that the concept of Jewish people-
hood is purely a spiritual and cul-
tural one, completely devoid of any
legal or political meaning."
Dr. Robert M. Maclver, pres-
ident of the New School for So-
cial Research, addressing the
American Council for Judaism
conference, said that American
Jews were to some extent re-
sponsible for what he called
their "continuing alienation"
from the rest of the American
society. In part, he said, the
problem arose from "the dis-
tinctiveness of the Jewish cul-
ture and on the conditions this
imposes on certain forms of so-
cial intercourse." He cited the
Saturday Sabbath, food taboos
and a reluctance to intermarry.
But he also cited specific activi-
ties as responsible for the "alien-
ation."
He said Jews trained their chil-
dren in Jewish schools and homes
for "minority-living." He asserted
that while this was "properly
cultivating group values," it also
might have a tendency to create
"counter-prejudice because of the
impression that Jewish culture is
both separate from and incompat-
ible with the prevailing culture."
He also argued there was "no
need" for many of the "separate
organizations" created by Jews
"for the pursuit of interests that
are shared within the inclusive
society," such as separate organi-
zations or "Jewish chiropractors,
or chemists, or engineers or den-
tists or social workers."
Another of the speakers before
the Council for Judaism was Dr.
John H. Davis, until last January
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the head of the United Nations
Relief and Works Agency for Pal-
estine Refugees. He said that the
most troublesome issue in the Mid-
dle East was not the problem of
the Arab refugees but the "ex-
istence of Israel as a Zionist state
in the Middle East." He held that
the efforts to resolve Middle East
tensions have failed because the
Western Powers, especially the
United States, have been insensi-
tive to the "deep feelings of the
peoples indigenous to the region"
and accepted "as true the ration-
alization of Israel as to her pol-
icy."
*
*
Two Swiss Nationals Go
on Trial for Informing
Israel on Egyptian Firm
ZURICH, (JTA) — Two Swiss
Nationals went on trial on charges
of disclosing secret information
about a Swiss industrial firm, run
by an Egyptian, relating to that
company's aid to the German
scientists at work in Egypt on
armaments for use against Israel.
One of the men, Johann Neeser,
is said to be "of Jewish origin."
The other is Wilhelm Naef. They
are alleged to have given secret
information "to the advantage of
the military security authorities
of Israel "about Motor Turbines
and Pumps. a Zurich firm owned
by Hassan Kamil, an Egyptian,
which supplies parts for the Egyp-
tian fighter program directed by
German scientist. Kamil is also
the head of another firm, Meco,
which has been reported aiding
the work of the German scientists
in Egypt.
Manfred Kuhn, counsel for the
two accused men, requested the
court, at the opening of the trial,
that they be acquitted, hinting
that, if the trial proceeded, he
would' be forced to reveal infor-
mation that could "seriously dam-
age Switzerland's international
relations:" Neeser was arrested
by Swiss police last July, after
having returned here, following
an attempt to land at Croydon air-
port, outside London, where he
allegedly was to meet an Israeli
agent. Later, it was said Neeser,
met Israelis in Paris and Milan.
Diefenbaker Urges
Action Against Bigots;
Gets Bar-Ilan Honor
MONTREAL (J T A) — Former
Prime Minister John Diefenbaker,
Canadian government opposition
leader, Called for action to curb
the spate of anti-Jewish and anti-
Negro literature in Canada.
He suggested a test case be
initiated by the federal minister
of justice under Section 166 of the
Criminal Code, leaving prosecu-
tion of the case to the attorney
general of the province where the
act was committed. Section 166
makes it a crime to publish a false
statement, tale or news likely to
cause injury to the public interest.
Diefenbaker spoke at a dinner
here at which he received an
honorary fellowship from Bar-Ilan
University, Tel Aviv. Several hun-
dred people attended the event,
'sponsored by the Canadian Friends
of Bar-Ilan University. Calling the
hate literature "poisonous," he
said it was outrageous and offen-
sive and could not be justified as
an exercise of freedom of speech.
The former prime minister also
said he would like to see Canada
take the lead in protesting to the
USSR against the anti-Jewish dis-
criminations there. "We should
call on Khrushchev and others as-
sociated with him to end dis-
criminatory measures for, without
protest, the leaders of the USSR
may be lulled into believing that
what is being done does not matter
to the free world."
Diefenbaker received the honor-
ary fellowship from Dr. Joseph H.
Lookstein, acting president of
Bar-Ilan.
THE DETROIT JEWISH NEWS
Friday, May 15, 1964
7
Technion Dedicates One Building, Plans Second
HAIFA — Two new buildings—
one completed and the other just
begun—will boost the science pro-
gram at Technion City, campus of
the Israel Institute of Technology.
The Karl T. Compton Chemis-
try Building was dedicated in the
presence of Mrs. Margaret Comp-
ton and a delegation of members
of the New England Chapter of
the American Technion Society,
which sponsored the new building.
It is named for the late Dr. Karl
Taylor Compton, former president
of the Massachusetts Institute of
Technology.
The new building contains labo-
ratories, spacious library and read-
ing room, administrative offices,
seminar room and cafeteria. The
modern equipment and safety de-
vices make the Compton Building
one of the finest of its kind in
the world.
A laboratory dedicated to re-
search in the acoustical sciences
will be located at the Building
Research Station. Ground was
marked out for the facility to be
named for the French acoustics
authority Ing. I. E. Katel.
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A PEOPLE'S EPIC
nJecration Confirmation
actuation
BY WALTER L. FIELD
THE ONLY BOOK
OF ITS KIND
DELUXE GIFT EDITION
Read what David Ben - Gurion
wrote to its Author:
Sdeh Bober,
4.3.64
Dear Mr. Field.
I am most grateful for
sending me "A People's
Epic" --I wish it would be
translated into hebrew. Do
you read hebrew!
Yours sincerely,
D. Ben-Gurion.
Ben-Gurion
Acclaimed Also by
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John McManis — Detroit News
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