Consul deplores equating Zionism with racism

Dick Cowen, of The Morning Call

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“Emanuel Shimoni, consul general of the Israeli Consulate in Philadelphia, concentrated on what he regards as the three major current issues involving Israel during an interview yesterday afternoon in Allentown.

These were the United Nations resolution which equated Zionism with racism, the proposed extension of a U.N. force on the Golan Heights between Israel and Syria, and a proposed $2.3 billion in American aid to Israel. The interview was at the Allentown Jewish Community Center, where Shimoni spoke at a rally in the evening.

During the interview, his wife Rayla was visiting at the home of her cousin, Mrs. Dorothy Roth of Allentown. Mrs. Shimoni and Mrs. Roth have known each other since childhood in South Africa.

The envoy said the reaction of Jews to the U.N. resolution branding Zionism as racism ‘is one of outrage and also of an attempt to explain to the world there is no relationship whatsoever between Zionism and racism.’

He said the U.N. resolution was an attempt by a group of nations, led by Arabs and supported by Moslems, Communists and a number of African countries, to discredit Israel and the Jewish people. ‘Although the resolution talks about Zionism, today anyone who supports Israel and believes in the right of the Jewish people to have a state of their own is a Zionist.

Anti-Zionism is that effort to suggest that there should be no State of Israel politically and to place Israel in the position where, if attacked by the Arab states, she will not have the support of the world for her existence as she has in the past.

The resolution is part of an overall strategy of the Arabs to isolate Israel politically and to place Israel in the position where, if attacked by the Arab states, she will not have the support of the world for her existence as she has in the past.

The nations that supported the anti-Zionism resolution include all the dictatorships, the Communists, the countries that have used repression and have been lacking in humanity. The resolution was opposed by all the enlightened nations of the world, led by the U.

S., supported by Western Europe, Scandanavia and a number of Central American and African states, despite the pressure of the Arabs on them. The Jews all over the world are reacting vehemently to this resolution. It has in it the grains of a new anti-Semitism which represents a threat to Jews and Jewish communities everywhere.’

Shimoni declined to comment specifically on a boycott by American Jews of Mexican tourist spots. Mexico voted for the U.N. resolution.

‘But it does not surprise me,’ he said, ‘that anybody who considers himself a Zionist should not want to visit a country which has supported a resolution denigrating Zionism and calling for its elimination.’… Shimoni said the Middle East conflict has been globalized because the Arabs have obtained ‘tremendous quantities of arms and military equipment’ from Russia, plus additional purchases from Western Europe and even the U.S.

‘Israel is unable to match what the Arabs have with her own resources. Therefore, we have asked the U.S. to insure the balance of power in the Middle East by providing us with the means to purchase arms.’ He said the Arabs have obtained $15 billion in arms since October 1973.

Israel considers a ‘reasonable balance’ of armaments being outnumbered 4-1, he said. But this balance can only be achieved through U.S. assistance, he added.”

Context added by this archive

An Israeli consul interviewed in Allentown three weeks after the Zionism-is-racism vote, given the whole column. The reporter records where his wife spent the afternoon.

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"Consul deplores equating Zionism with racism," The Morning Call, 1 December 1975, p. 1. Covering Palestine archive, CP-1975-005. https://coveringpalestine.org/archive/cp-1975-005