11-12 1960 AZC Bi-Monthly Report

8/8/2019 11-12 1960 AZC Bi-Monthly Report

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PRINTED r1ATERIAL OF GENEPAL INTEREST----November-Deeember 1960

BI ..MONTHLY REPORT .._ - DEPARTHENT OF INFORrULTION AND FUBLIC .RELATlor:3

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The nuclear reactor stor,y inspired c o ~ c n t from Many sources:edi tor ial wri ters , columnis ts , sc ience writers nnd car to0nis ts . nost ofthe press seemed f in ally to accept the th es is th at the reactor H;)S hrlnr;bui l t for peaceful purposes and not for bombs. SOTT:C coluIf.nist3fclt thatthe U.S . should have awaited more in format ion beforo ' ' 'ventilatin;, i t ssuspicions". Drew Pearson t s syndicated colurr:n jus t i f iod Isr:1c l ' : j Sf."Cr0CV\villiam Laurence in the fIe,>! York Times stressed Isrctcl ' 3 peace ful intent.,in contrast to Arthur Krock who \>1anted the reactor placed undor international safeguards. Arab protaeonists in this ccuntry - including thc:;cin tho State Departrr.ent who raised a l l the fuss in i t ia l ly - u s ( ~ d thooccasion to t ry to cast doubt on I s rae l ' s friendship tOl1ard the l! .c;.

The Daily Press of the Nation

During this t ~ o - m o n t h period, there was considerable ectltorin1 ~ n net-1S comment dealing vJith many issues affect ln g I s r . 1 ~ l and the Tad:!] (0 r.':1Hh1le the preponderance of this material concerned i t se l f ''''ith Isroel'.:; nnuclear reactor, the following items were deal t with in rnorf> th;.m r n : ~ : : d n i ~fashion: (1) Arab refugees (th e iss ue was agnin before thf1 H.il. Gcnpral.! \s sembly) ; (2) the Eichmann case (some of the oppos it ion forces :lrc 0ti11at i t ) ; (3 ) Israel t s aid to tho African nations (almozt everyrod.y in l\rnclshould be aware of th is aid by now; and (4 ) seating of the UAR in theSecurity Council (a number of papers attacked i t ) .

There \'lere a nurrher of f i r s t - ra te feature and se ri a li zed s t or ie 8 onI s rae l , i ts porsona1it ies, or s orne facet of I s rao l i accompli3hncnt;D r. Rusk 's account o f I sr ae l's rehabi l i tat ion work in th e r:Cv1 York Timr>:":;Mrs. Agnes Meyer's (v!ashington Post) intervio,"1 with Ben Zvi ( s h ~ 13 contemplating a book on Israel) ; Ed Janeway's series in the Quincy P:1triotr dS j r ; and Austen Lake's glowing l J -a r t ic lo ser ies (reprinted in parrlphlcorm in the Boston Record-Sunday Advertiser.

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. Analysis and H i g h l 1 ~ h t s - - The Ben-Gurion "Godless J c ~ - ! s " cOp';-,cntbroke during the l a s t fm.z days in December. A numter of Iq'!'1rricnn ,iCl';,:-;horganizations rushed into pr in t to denounce Ben-Gurion. F h ~ n qucrit.d byth e AP and the ~ ' ! o r l d - T ( ' l e g r a m , the American Zionist Counc il t ook the. posit ion that we vould have no comment un t i l we had the opportunity tostudy the t ex t of Ben-Gurion's statement".

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Magazmes, ~ ' J r i ters and PublicationsThe nagazine Committee, under the chairmanship of :'lortcn Y:um(:n,continues tor.:eet regularly. Hriters Hith whom 1!e arc in ccntact h: lV0readiod art icles for Reader's Digest and are d i s c u s 3 i n ~ anoth0r article\-lith the S a t u r d a ~ r Evcn:ng Post. (The R0adcr's Dir.est "pulled" a stor.V' onEichmann after type was set and the author was ~ a i d , o n t h c flimsy excusethnt Israel ' s agreement to pay Servatius n ~ casts some doubts on thp

art ic le Hithout going into any further explanations. I t H n "irs. 1";'ichrvmnrefusal, i nc ident al ly , t o contribute to her husband's defense ou t of thpmonies she received from Life 71nenzine that prompted Serv:ltius to appronchthe Israel Govcrnment) ~ o r t s I l lustra ted i s BenninG a man to Is r1 pl tocover the opening of Israel ' s f i r s t golf course Ccntact has ~ c 0 n made\-lith e dito rs o f the Ladies Home Journnl and Seventeen i , r ; ] ~ ( ' i z i n Mho d re tovis i t Israel in early 1961... Attention is be i n given to the vreeklymagazines for articles on Israel to apr-car d t ~ r i n g the Thirteenth j\nr.iyer;;arperiod.. . Parade is giving some thought to several Eichm:mn a r t i c l f \ ~ ; He stinmlated seven le t te rs to Time because of the i r treat;7'icnt of thereview of Exodus. -

1960 Resume I t can,be said that the pross of the nation, durinr.1960 has by and large shmm sympathy and underst:mninr, of Isracl ' 3 po:.;i t ienThere are, of cou rse, excep ti on s, not ab ly the Scripps-Hovmrd chnin Hh.-:-rr: Hes t i l l need to achieve a "break-through", the Pul liam chain (where [;01"':0progress has been made) and some locally-owned pLpcrs.

C o v c r a ~ e The popular magazines gave considerab10 sp:lce to Tsrnelin sor,e highly favorable nrticlen. Uor th notinG nrc the prof11f'! ( ; n r ~ f ; n -Gurion which appeared in Holiday, the tuo pieces (one on Christmas in Isr,'lnand th e other a travel art ic le) which appeared in Esqui re ; th c E x o d u ~ moviereceived good advance promotion in some of the country's l e a d i n ~ rr:agnzines;the !!ev1 Y o r k ~ r carried a piece dea ling mostly '-lith th e negev, but with r,oodpolitical overtones; Ebony carriod a fine piece on Bclafpnte in the HolyLand (ho was onthusiaSt'I'Cally r e c e i v ~ d in Israel) ; Ben-Gurian nnswcrcdquestions en Eichmsnn in a piece which appeared in the n e ~ r York Times 'Haga zine... L ife carried Eichmann's memoirs ("1 t-1as only a l i t t le coein a big wheeI""}1n t ~ . , o installments.

Specialized Publications - - Some good art icles appeared in the tradeand profess ional journals : Ever,ybodY's Health carried a f i rst-ra te pieceon Israe l ' s public health work Adult Leadership carried Stophen Deane's

....:......-_...........--_ ......_---_ .........-_ .................----_..._-- - _ . , ~ - - - - _ .........~ ~ " . , . . ~ " " " " ' ~ . " - ' . ~ . ~ ~ - -,.. ...The AZe Effort - - He continued our program of quint hrlckrroundbriefing sessions with editors; during th is period ou r corr.l'T1t:nit,Y lC:Jdr:r:J,

regional representa tives and speakers cnr-aged in such sess i onG ~ . r i t h ~ editors and columnists... He continue to pu t useful l i terature into thehands of edi tor ial writers, e tc . . . v]e stimulated ahout 35 l f L c t t o n ~ totho Editors" on a number or issuon: tho UAR snnt in the Security Council,replies to hostile material (mostly inspired by Americnn Council forJudaism) on tho ''Exodus'' film and attacks on Z1oniom genera IJy. Pcare in touch with n e ~ 1 s p a p e r m e n who are set to go to Israel under otr.erauspicos for the followinc projects: the openinG of the Sheraton-Tel AvivHotel, and for coverage of the Eichmann t r i a l . . . lTe shall probnbly sendanother journalist to lsra'el in February.

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- 3 -(Simmons College) article on Israel 's Ulpnnim... An article in MD dealtwith Israel i medicine... Walter Hell Journal published an article on.Israel 's water program Po scnt a story on the dcvelopment of theLachish areas to severai trade journals recently.Books- Work continues on the book dealing with the s itun tion o f th e COpt3 inEgypt, f ive chapters having been written.. . We circulated widely our rundown on Harr,y Ellis ' book Challenge in the Middle East. (The extont ofthe distribution of this material, together with discussions by our PewEngland repro::Jcntative with editors of the Christi;}n Scir!nce Honitor, inour opinion, resulted in the Monitor's recent failure to publi3h .a numberof Ellis ' dispatches from the Middle East . Apparently the editors did notwant to associate Ellis too prominently with the Monitor d u r i n ~ a periodof otrong adverse reactien in:3 orr:e quarters to this book.) Wo cont i n u ~ tourge upon c o ~ ~ u n i t y leaders presentations of a suitable Tsrnel or MiddleEast Bookshelf to local and collego l ibrarios.. . Our offico providodbooks, biliohraphies and pamph1ets to academicians, graduate students andcommunity leaders in response to requests for information.

Books Recently Published - - Tho !1ideast in Focus by Normnn G r ( ' e n t ~ a l d ,published by Public Affairs Press. This slim, 86-page took by nn assistantprofessor of Government at Northeastern University offers a bird's-e:m viewof tho area. For a small book, i t contains quite a COMprehensive analysisof the Middle East. The author reveals a sensitivity nnd understandingthroughout and particularly in his discussion of Zionism, Israel, and theArab-Israel conflict.Illustrated Guide and Handbook of Israel - - Israel 's many-faceteddevelopment is effectively described in this book which i s embellished bybeautiful color p h o t o s . R e c o ~ ~ e n d e d to a ll interested in Israel.Europe and the Jm-1s by Halcolm Hay (Beacon Press) - - Thi:r book shouldprove particularly helpful now in view of the approaching Eichmann t r ia l .

I t is a paper-back edition of tho 1950 book called ~ o o t of Pride. Inaddition to recording the anti-Semitism experienced by European Jewry 1niMprp3.3ivc fashion, i t is decidedly pro-Zionist. He should encourage widestdistribution as well os placement on ever,y Israel Bookshelf.OUR SPBAKERS PROG HA \I

Speakers Bureau One - - During the months of November and D e c c M b ~ r ,there Here 260 appearances in 83 ci t ies and 21l states. This brought tt:ctotal number or engagements for this year to 2,124.Speakers Bureau Two - - During November there were 64 sponJdnf", enenrementa in 44 communities. During December there were 31 e n g a e ~ r . c n t s in 16communities making a to ta l or 101 talks delivered during tho tuo-ml1nthperiod. Total engagements tor 1960 arranged by this Bureau arc 531.Thus the total number of speaking engagements - the ovenrhelming nUI"'ber of\-1bleh were sot up berore Christian and p.oneral audiences - under the auspicesof th e Department ccme to ~ sum of 2,661.


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., .We ~ e r e able to obtain return platforms in practically ~ v ~ r y c ~ s ~where hostile speakers had already appeared in every part of' tt:c country.Some of those whom we made 3pecial efforts to counteract w e r ~ SnodatHassan, David Hinnawi, ElmoI' Borger, Frank Harin and Fayoz Sayegh. Tnour scheduling of speakers We gave special attontion to appearancc3 bofore

church and academic circles. . . I t is interestine to note that hostilespeako'rs have again begun to play up the Arab refugee i s ~ u e .CHRISTIAfl RELIGI1US GROUPS

Regular sessions of the Commission on I n t e r - R e l i ~ i o u s A f f a i r ? , u n d ~ rthe chairmanship of Rabbi Judah Nadich,were held in November and J e c ~ m b ~ r .These meetings concerned themselves with articles for the church p r ~ 5 3(and counteraction of hostile articles), visi ts to Isruel by prominentChristian religious leaders, ways and means of insurinr, a more positiveexperience on the part of these leaders while in Israel, the specialconcern of some Christian publications ,,11th the Eichmann case and 10c,11Institutes for Chr is tian Clergy.Institutes for Christian clergymen have already been held at Clcv0land,

L0 3 Angeles, Birmineham (this one included lay leadership) and Brooklyn.~ ' ; h i l e two of these were rirst-rate, two others were only moderately S l l c c c n ~ ful. Plans for an Institute in New York are not-I u n d ~ r Nay in discussionswith the New York Board of Rabhis which ~ i l l s e r v ~ an the sponsorinc 'organization. Discussions are also under way with c o ~ ~ ~ n i t y leaders inPhila.delphia lind Baltimore fo r similar Institutes. In all \-10 a n projocting eight Institutes for the 1960-61 year.

rrotestants - - The November iosue of Social Prop,rcss (publi3h('d bythe Department of Soc ia l Education and Action of the Board of ChristianEducation of the United Presbyterian Church) was devoted n l ~ o 3 t entirelyto a '''Focus on the r1iddle East". The trentn:C'nt was rather fair andindicated an understanding of Israel 's problems nnd position.. . I t isnot surprising to note that Dr. Illlyn Robinson of the N.gtional C o n f c r o n c ~of Christians and JOHS has gotten some nCGative resp0!1ses to his f i r ~ 3 t . -rate article on anti-Semitism which appeared in Soc ia l Acticn. In thntnrticl" he stntnd t h ~ t ~ ' i t is sorr:etimes a very short step from :1nti-!.i0'1ism tanti-Semitimu and many an Arab and his Arrcrican friends havn taken i t" . 'We helped asoemble material to make i t possible for Rchinson to s u b s t a n t i a t ~his po in t.

Perhnps the s ingle most damaging ~ r t i c l e in the Protestant p r c ~ s inthese two months was the piece in the Christian Century by MargueritteHarman Bro which dealt with the rights of Christians .in Israel. ~ . J cstimulated several replies which we are hopeful will be printed.

Hhile a number of church journals gave attention to the Arab refUGeeissue during November and December (and seme of this carried an anti-Israelbias), i t should be said that a number of journals carried favorablo m c t t ~ r j ~ lThe Fundamentaliot journals continuo to describe Israel as a fulfillment ofprophecy... Missions (Arr.erican Baptists) asked Nasser editorialJy t.o cnlloff his state of war with Israel . . . The United Church Herald also g ~ v c'sympathetic treatment to Is ra el A recent pUblication of the Women'sMissionary Union Convention carried an excellent piece on Israel.


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We continue to send picture stories to th e church press and GCr. p ofthese have been p u b l i s h ~ d . . . AZC turned down a request froM U-:e Chri3t iof Biblical Studies plans to send another group of seminary r,r:vluatcs toIsrael in early 1961; AZC i s setting up the pre-depar tu re orientat ion 3f>3S1Cnsfor th is grcup which is in friendly hands.

The AZe Commission on In ter-Rel ig ious Affairs decided ar.ainst our forr.8ilyreplyine to Rabbi Philip Sigal 's attack in the fa l l issue of The Torch, (HT,r,nof t he Nati onal Federation of JeHish Hen's C l u b ~ . Rabhi Jack Cohen, incidpnta l ly , replied on his Otm in the paaes of The Rcccnstrllctinnist and a r e ( p l r ~ tshould be made of The Torch to reprint th is reply.

Catholics - - The AZC Commission on Inter-Religious ~ f f ~ i r s ~ 1 i l 1 devotea major part of one of i t s forthcoming meetingn to a discussion in d ~ p t h ofAmerican Catholic atti tudes towards I s rae l . . . I t should b" told th::it ~ c r r cprogress has already been manifest in Catholic circles in rclntionshi.ps :0Israe l . . . Father Vincent Kearney, Associate Editor o f Arr('ric


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to ut i l ize Eban on TV-Radio when he arrives February 19... Ed F i t z r . c r ~ l d~ ~ O R Radio), back from Israel , has been giving good reportaGe of I s r ~ e lsince h is r etu rn .

ACADEHIC CIRCLESThe eroup of academicians nosombled under th e chairmanshil? of Deiln ,J.'1cobI . Hartstein, to help stimulate a pro-Isrnel atmosphere (n f;,ll p r o : ~ r ; , l m i:'1in p rocess o f fo rmulat ion) on campuses has held t,o mee ti ng s, ;')nd h3S decidlJdto organize i t se l f into an INTERUIUVERSITY e 0 1 L I I T T F T : ~ ~ ' I S ~ U - \ E L , ~ / r i t h officC3at 515 Park Avenue. The Committee has already embarked on t,;o p r o j ~ ( ' t 3 : th eprer;aration of (1 ) a lOO-page Unit on Israel for use by Jr. High and H i l ~ hSchool teachers, and, (2) an annotated Bibliography of art icles d c a l i n ~ Hi thvar ious aspec ts of Is rael i studies t hat have appeared in scholarly j011rn:Jlsfor use in graduate courses in the Humanities and th e Soc ia l 3c 1 e ~ l c c s .The potential i t ies of th e rnTER-tJrlIVt::RSITY CmrnTTEE O?1 ISFhEL nre V; l3 tand their realization wil l depend, to S0me extent on budr,ct, but to an c v ~ ngreat er ext en t on the availabil i ty to the Committee of n d e q u ~ t c s taf fassistance. The current budget, therefore, for projects rcachlnr, into t h academic c o ~ ~ u n i t y wil l have to be carefully reviewed and rossiblV c n l ~ r ~ r di f we nrc to benef it f ul ly from the resources - in t:ci1ns of knoH-hr-H, i"0:1:-;,and contacts - made available to us by th e membership of this neH COffi'ii t Lr,p.The Student Area For some time nmol un have been concerned at ou rfailuro to achieve ful l exp lo it at ion o f th e studen t resources He h:1vc oncampus for maximum e ff ec tiv enes s in th e pUblic r c l : ' l t i o n ~ D p h e r ~ . Thi,Jsituation has now been greatly corrected and , . l ( ~ are ber,inning to !nov", 'ina united effor t , in th e right direction. Several mcetings hnve b"'0n h01d

\-Tith the tHO student groups affected - the Student Zionist Organ izatif)nand the Israel Students Organization - for the purpose of rr.cshinG ou refforts in this area into a more effective 1 n s t r D m e n t ~ l i t y . This cooperation wil l now become more evident both in prograMs of a gencrnl p. r . naturea3 well as in specif ic projects, (CCUN Hodel Assemblies, Israel 's 13thAnniversary) as wil l be noted. The spi r i t of cooperation evidenced by theleadership of both student groups is most heartening and much progrc3s haGalre ady been made.Our concern and action in this area is nOH' centered in garno I? I;odr:lU.N. Assemblies (both regional and local)" sponsored by the Colleg iate Councilof the United Nat ions (Cell I) . The net.;ly-developod cooperation bet';'7ccn 5Z0,ISO, our National and Regional Offices wil l , in ou r opinion, for th e f i rs t

time bring the desired resul ts in th is area of collegiate act ivi ty. Th0program calls for s timulat ing coll eges , v ia qualified s tudents , to representIsrnel , personal briefings with those students, providing them withappropriate material, an outline of Is rael ' s position on various issues,draft resolutions, etc . Contact i s also being made with student=> Hho repre-sent other countries so as to obtain additional support for Isr3cl ' s cnsc ." in these debates. .Coller,e Conferences - - Two conferences are worthy 0 f snecial rr.cnt irn,not alone because of their int r insic importanco or because of the diffic1lltic3encountered by our field representatives in trying to get a "fai r brenk" for


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- 7 -I s rae l , but because they demonstrate there is no sunst i tutp. to havinr. oncampus faculty people who are det('rmined to ~ e that I;3rrJel is fair lyt r e a t ~ d and the importance of placing I s rae l i schola.rs on colJeGe C : l r : 1 r ' l ~ " S ,i f even on t e m n o r a ~ a s s i g n m e n t ~ .

(1 ) S n o t l i ~ h t P r o r , r ~ m on t.he Hiddle East a t the l J n i v ~ r s i t y of Ftnh,FebruCJry 1-15. The relevant faculty posit ions here are dominntlJd hy f\raband pro-Arab personnel; there are a t leas t So Arab st 'ldcnts on carnpls.Our San rrancisco office and our friends in Salt l.akc City, Inbor :nr: undergreat handicaps, had numerous discussions 'Hith the org.m izero of thoConference who a re apparen tl y s t i l l resis t ing the i n c l u 3 i ~ n of a v i p i t l ~ 1 r .pro-Israel scholar to part icipate on the grounds that the:, cbn' t 1.J:;nt"outsiders" a t the Conference. The si tuat ion i s apparently nt i l l nUir i ,with the possibi l i ty t.hat Consul Nash will par t icipate in some fnshioL, a n ~and Israol film wil l be shown. A n o t r ~ r problem: appa ren tly thpre does notexis t a suitable I s rae l exhibi t which could compete ~ T i t h th e rnnny ~ t t r n c t i v 0exhibits being offered by Arab and pro-Arab groups. . . 100 copies of theAAHES k it wil l be distr ibuted a t the Conference.

(2) Twentieth Century W ~ e k a t Harvard , sponsored by the Harvard StudenCouncil, December 5-11. This conference scheduled several A r d b ~ in k0yprect.tations spots. Despite th o persis tent effor ts of our Boston office,-the sponsors (who evidently were taking the i r instructions from certainfaculty men a t Harvard's Center for Hiddle East Studie s) refused to sch"riulean Israol speaker on a comparable platform, ins is t ine that the A r a h - I G r ~ e lconf l ict was not germane, tha t the purpose of the Conference W ~ to deal"wit.h thp. i m a e ~ of America abroad", and that the at t i tudes of the j,r3bs '-lEiSthe major public concern. (An I s rae l student was allowed to p a r t i c 1 ~ a t c inseminar discussions.) I t was only af te r the Arabs attacked T s r n ~ 1 thnt thesponsors int.ervened to wam succeeding Arab speakers to confine t h e ~ s e 1 v,..,sto the topic . I t should also be noted that th e Z io nis t studnnt,s fr l i 1c(\ tosee tho implications of the program and fai led to support t h r ( ! q H ~ s t forp r o ~ r a m revision.

Other Act ion - - Arab speakers have been active on many campus('s, bllt.in almost a l l instances they have boon counteracted. . . v.Te made r ~ c ( ) T T 1 " ' l c n d : : l "tio na for speakero a t the University of Rochester's Campus Conference onReligion 't-1here "Re lig ion in Israel" wil l be on the agenda. . . ~ ' ! c art" alsocooperating with "Israel Emphasis t,.Jeek" a t the Buffalo campus () f the StateUniversity of New York.. . Our protests aga in st s lnnt ed p r o c r ~ l T ~ 1 m i n g a tPortland State College have broueht resul ts A l i s t o f I sr3cl is cho la rswas circulated by us to f ield offices and some community leaders Harman was invited to Yale as the guest of the p r e s i ~ e n t . I n v i t a t i o n ~ ~ r also being stimulated from Harvard, Oberlin and Fordham J ~ n u n r y i3sueof ~ o c i a l 'Education, prepared in co ll abora t ion wi th MHES, carried a nnrr.berof :ravorable ar t i c les . . . Arab students remain act ive; The Daily Tex:Jn,publication at the University of Texas, devoted'an ent i re page to th e Arabworld in which a n t i ~ I s r a e l propaganda w carr ied. This was counteractedby letters. from the Israel is there.

ORGAN I Z A T I O ~ S , PROJBCTS, CURRENT ISSUESMiddle East Inst i tute - - Dr. Joseph Schechtman's ar t ic le "Contra th e

Middle East Inst i tute" was published in The R ~ c o n s t r u c t i o n 1 s t . \ole ordered,reprints which were sent p r i m a r i ~ to academicians around th e c ount ry .


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ACPC Recent issue or the i r N e w s l ( l t t ~ r denlt with I s rae l-Af ri canrelatIOnS. Land Hcborn deal t \-1i th Hid-East Oil and with a survey of theArab press on th e refuGees. Father Kearney, Associate Editor of hm n ric3,wil l address an ACPC meeting on February 8.Int.ernational Union of l,ocal Authoritic3 The U.3 . con tinr ,ent of60 Hayors returned from l s r a ~ l - t : T h e r e they a tte nded the C o n f c r ~ n c c th i s ye:lr.Hhile in Israel , a number of them "lere intervicHed by our reprc:Jcntat ivc "lhosent stories back to their hometOtm papers; t h e ~ r "TOre also recorded in in ter

views for local radio s ta t ions . We notif ied cOIT1unity leaders of thosemayors who atteneed the conference in Israel ; in Many cases, local Zien 1stleaders have already met \-1ith the mayors and are d c v ~ l o p i n g plans to plnccthem before Jeuish and Christian audiences, etc.

Interna.tional J r . Chamb0r of Comerco - - Nr . Hoshc : - l ~ r o ' 1 of Te l livivhas been elected Executlve V i c ~ ..Presi:ient of J r . ChalTlber of COf1:r:ercc International . In this capacity he u i l l v i s i t the U.S. t ~ , r i c e durir;iT, 1961. Heare a l ~ e a d y makinG plAns to U3a him on ;:l number of impor tant p ln tform3.Society for the Prevention of Horld ~ ' ~ a r I I I - - Their public; Jt ion,winter issue, carries the usual number of anti-IJasser items.Rotary Internntionnl The Rotnrinn, their mcnthly public,1ti0n,carried an al"ticle on tho world refur;ce s i tuat ion. The reM pnrar;ra;-hr.dealing w ith the Arab refueees 'were firs t-rate from our point of vicl' .I s rae l 1 ~ l " : e r i c D ! ' l Inst i tute of Bibl ical Studie9 C o n t i . n u c ~ i tsexcellent "Tork. Is s e ~ 1 1 i n g another gi'' 'up o f Chr is ti an t hcolor ians t o stwi:,rin Israel . I t recently producod a new rilm on Israel c.111crl "DrC.1r1S in thf\Desert".Cultivation of S p ~ c i a l Q r o u p s - - Tho new S u b c o m ~ i t t e c in th e p r o c ~ 3 3of forrlJution (mentioned in the l as t report) u i l l concentrate i ts activitir>3in th e iJCGro community and Amc:"1f"; 1\Tr.crican " l ibera l s" . I t t-ri11 ,..'ork l:p n

program of s?ecial mailings, informal meetings, e tc . . . He c o n t ; i n u ~ , r r ,n;n-while , to send pho to stories to the Hegro press l..Jhich are published fr(:Mtime to time. Receiving good coverage was a photo of Isrdeli poctors in theCongo.IGrael's Thirteenth Anniversary - Thi3 is a major 'project of th(?

Departlr.ent i ! ' 1 v o l v ~ ; } g \>1I'1t ten material , radio, TV, e tc . A rr.emor:Jndurn on thesubject ha s already been s ~ n t to th e c c ~ ~ u n i t i e s .The Eichmnnn CaGe This incident has become an " iS3UC" in some

quarters. Hardly a day goes by tha t the s t a f f i s not i n v o l v ~ d in one actirnor another on this issue. Various subcommittees of th e D e p a r t ~ e n t h ~ V 0given a tt en tion to th e public relat ions aspects of t h f o r t h c o m i n ~ t r i ~ l .Special effor ts wil l be made to contact scmo of the correspondents fr"l11 theU.5 . who 'Hill be covering the t r i a l Hith the view of intcrest ine thc'n towrite on other s u b j e c ~ s also .Local - - Our San Francisco ofrice a r r a n g ~ d for I s rae l i st.udcr.tJ tf')extend hospitali ty to cret-T mombers of tHO Zim ships vthich cprmed up Q0rvicf\to the Heat CoaSt. The San Francisco Zionint Council was a Iso amonr th e f i rs tto extend a welcome to the captain and crow of the f'llnhariya" as t foC f i rs t

I s rae l i ship in San Francisco Bay porta.


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VISITORS TO ISRAELWe continue to encourage vis i ts to Iarnel b y . ~ u b l i c oninion m o 1 d ~ r sand, where possible, assis t with financial arrangements. ~ ' : ' e are in touchwith a number of travel aeoncies and tour groups goinp, to the ~ U d d l c E:1stoffering briefings, l i terature, etc . Several part icipants in pnst stunytours are nau e n ~ a g e d in attempts to set up tours of thei r mm for t h summers of 1961 and 1962.. . Plans are proceedinr, for th e 19()1 AC1'C stuliytour. Efforts will te made to reaeh into ne4 communities which hithertohave not sponsored a participant.Recent visi tors in whom we had more than a r o o t i n ~ interest returnedfrOM Israel quite enthus ias ti c and i t is , thorefore, hoped t h ~ t the? Hi l lbe h elpful to us in the future. These include: Harold Flend('r, TV nndmovie writer, who has joined our Radio-TV Corr.."!littec; Jar;es Fl.;mnr.:in,Associate Editor o f the Christian, (church publication) St. Louis; the .Donald Harringtons of the COtn.'1iunity Church in Nel-1 York. Hatrincton t , ; ~ s

particularly interest.edin Israel t s program in l\frica; he visited th e AfroJ\sian Inst i tu te in Tal Aviv. Tho Harrinetons p r o c e ~ d e d from Isr:lel t.oAfrica. She is a personality in her mm riGht and lectures frequently.Dr. Campbell Crockett, Dean of the Graduate School of the University o fCincinnati, has returned from Israel delir,hted with his visi t . I t is expected he Hill be writing art icles and delivf'r speeches... Otherrecent visitors include !-irs. Agnes Meyor, c o - o ~ , m o r of the Wanhingtcni'ost,who has done some excel:!.ent Hriting since her return; the E t h r i d r , ~ s ofth e Louisville Courier Journal.Discussions are going on lrith five Protestant editors to s r ~ n d sometime in I sr ae l t hi s spring. These men represent tho Christian Herald,

D e c i s i o ~ , Christianity Today, Together and Social Order Appronchnswill also be made to prominent U.S. church lC'aders "'h0 plAn to att0nrlthe Conference of th e "Jor1d Council of Churches scheduled for Ne'.; Dolhith is ra l l , so that they be given nn opportunity to npond tiJ'nn in Tsrneleither enroutc or upon th e return t r i p . . . Help Hill also b r,ivr:n tocollege faculty people to enable them to be in Isr:1cl this ~ : m m ~ , c r orduring their sabbaticals. . Prof. Von Grunebaum, head of the Biddle F : 1 ~ tInst i tu te a t UClA, and porhaps the greatest Am0rican authority on IslaM,will spend threo woeks in Israel early in 1961.

Our representative in Israel continues to rncp.t with VisitingChristians and arranees briefing::;, hospitali ty, etc. J ~ b o u t 13f)O Chri:-;t. i:1r1Sv is it ed I sr ae l during the las t three months of 1960. Ii good proGram Hasdeveloped for the 60 U.S. visi t ing Mayors who went to Israel and reportsindicate that they returned quite impressed. Also civen special at tcntinnwere two tours composed of delegates to the International C o n f ~ r e n c ~ ofSocial Workers held in Rome; th is group received excellent t r e a t m e ~ t inIsrae l . . . Our representative sent her "Christmas Letter" \-1ith ne'13 aboutI sr ael to about 400 u.s. Christians she has come to know.THE ORGANIZED OPPOSITION

Close cooperat ion continues between all anti-Zionist and anti-Israelgroups in th is country.

' ..........__...,.,.. .......- - - . . . . . . . . , ; . . - - - - - - - - - - ~ ' ~ 9 . f............,-,.- ..... " .


10/11

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The Ara.bs - - Arab off icials and students have 1"1aintnincrt thf' p . 1 ~ eof their operations particularly on speaker rostruMs and in thf ' t ' l l ; t tcrsto-tho-editor" colurr.ns. Their activity has been heavy in rr:ccnt mnnth;;in Texas and Louisiana. Batal is s t i l l making the rounds in Florld:t anns u r r o u n d i n ~ area. Current Arab pet therms are Israel ' s atcrnic rcnctor, .BG's speeches, and (aping th e ACJ) the propr ie ty o f th e deep i ~ t ~ r 0 . s tevidenced by U.5. Zionists in Israel . . . Tho AZe hns counteractl"'d thscspeeches and le t te rs in practically a ll instnnces.

The Arab Information Center is circularizing F.xodus - A D i ~ t ' ) r t i o nof Truth, a 3u-page booklet released to coincide Hith th e o p c n i n , , , ' o f ~ ' 1 h emovie; as expec ted, i t attempts to discredit the book and q u o t ~ s fr0mErich Fromm and Elmer Berger.. . Biddle East Forum, publishc;d by t tcA l u ~ . n i Association of th e Unive rs it y o f Boi ru t, carried nn nrt1cxaskinG for intenoification of th e Arab boycott ar:air.n t I G r ( 1 ~ 1 c1nd I l r rr , lArab competition with Israel for tho rnarkots of Africa and f \ ~ i : 1 Arab Review expresses grave concern over Presidont-elect K e n n ~ d y ' s"pro-Israol" statements, and exhorts Kennedy to study "th e Laven cr is isin Israel" for his enlightenment.

Arnb student3 in the U.S. wil l publish a "leckly rcvie'" in Enr,li1hsubsidized by the UAR. They wil l also arrango exh ib i ts ' in various c i it j f"'Dto show the progress in the Arab ~ o r 1 d .Aramco - - Continues to equip AF!iE speakers "lith 511d(,5 f0 r 3rr;:d{r'I'S'presentati',ms. P:JPcrs from the Second Arab Petroleum Conr,resn hr:l r ) und r rauspices of the Arab LO;:lCUo arc beine diotributed in the U.3. hy l , r ~ l 7 ' c oin a pamphlet called Current Challenr,cs in the Intcrn:ltional fctro1c:mIndustry. Aramco 1s also distributing an Arabic textbook to f , ~ . c r i C0nstudents who wish to study Arabic.Al"lcrican Friends of the Hiddle Ea!;t A ~ i E runs an e x t f : ' n f ; i v ~

pr0GI'aIn in the academic field: 1500 rIiddle Eastern students ' t , ~ e r c pl:icedin th e U.S. l as t year and were provided with ~ > ~ O , ( ) O ( ) in aid; ?8 Ul,nstudents, previously stUdying in the USSR, were plnccd by J \ r - ~ T i ~ , incooperation with the "Experiment in International Livinr,", in priv;}t('homes in the U.3. Other phasos of i t s work in this area i n ~ l u r l e t,hr>awarding of grants to Foreign Student Advisors for trnvel in thoBiddle East.AF7iE's propaganda program, i t should be noted, ia not ne8rly ,I S

bi t tor and vicious as in fonner times. Hovrcvcr, i t r l o ~ s continllf' an';whercvor it Dppears, we have taken tltcps to counteract it . . . . Gr:lnt r ~ ' J t 1 ( ~ ris again active in speaking engagements on the ,.rest e O ( ) ~ t . . . f . . ~ ~ csntinues i ts close association with the Arab Student proGrnm.. . The 1 \ 1 . ~ : . ! En e w l y - f o ~ ~ d chapter a t Baylor University has not received t h e a p n r G v ~ lof the college 'authorities; i t is unlikely, h ~ r e v c r , that the r,roup ~ 11bo asked to disband o ~ 1 i l l i a m Cline, formerly Ap1r::'s Eastern n ( , i ~ j o ; ) : l lDirector, has been appointed Director of Development for the Ncar r.:.1stFoundation.

American Council for Judaism - - ACJ circulated a rive-page rerortdealing with our National Zionist A s s e m b ~ to their leadorship. They .also. circulated a communication to Jewish leaders around the c o u ~ t r y ,


11/11

This development prOVides us with great oppor tuni ties , but also p o s e ~,problema. At the present, time the Department is inadoquately s ta ff ed to. give each Subcommittee sufficient s tar t assistance to carry out the programsbeing projooted. This matter Tequlres our immediate attention.

..

*This report has bean prepared by the member's or the Department.,

He continue to send out literature, anSl-,'er voluminous cC1T.Munitycorrespondence, send memoranda to local Zionist Council c h a i r ~ ~ n and keyCOmMunity leaders.. . A special kit of mater ia l was prepared for usc ntour Zionist Assembly. The AssemblY was followed up by a report to ourCOmMunity contacts.

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particularly to o ff icer s of local Jewish Federations and ~ , T e l f a r e Funds,enclosing a pamphlet, "The tlJA Funds 'Reorganization''', written byLessing Rosenwald. Another let ter circulated by them cal led for proteststo bo made to the U.3 . Goverru:'lcnt on letting Zicnism be treated as a"s:lcred cow" and as a separato "body politic".

ACJ remains, hmoJever, a potent anti-Zionist and anti-Israel force.The AZe is noV1 discussing a project which, i f implemented, should go a,lor.g way in d i m i n i s h i n ~ the acceptance of ACJ in many quarters.The Jm-:ish NCHsletter -- Zukerman called the Nationnl ZionistAssembly "the last effort on the part of the united Zionist HOVcMcnt tosave i tself from extinction fl This paper continues with its USU:l l viciousMatorial, and carried materia l written by the Arabs.

ACJ continues i ts attempts to get on TV and Radio, with s ~ n l l success.Our policy ccntinues to be not to entor into public debates Hith them; thisstand has caused many producers to drop program ideas initiRted by ACJ Thoir speakers on campuses have been counteracted effectively.. . In LosAngeles, the International Round Table, which had scheduled both BerGerand Sayegh, dropped them after inquiries in the Jewish c o ~ ~ u n i t y .

rhe year 1960 saw sorr.e improvement in our operational structure.Particularly heartening is the addition to our ranks, on the volunteerlevel, of new and effective people who are prepared to be of help. Inaddition to the overall CommitteQ on Information and Public Relationsheaded by Mrs. Judith Epstein, ' there are now five functloningSubcommittccs, each with i ts ~ W chairman.

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MISCELLANEOUS, HAILTIJGS

OBSERVATIONS AND R E C O H l 1 E ~ I D A T I O N S

Documents

11-12 1960 AZC Bi-Monthly Report