International Affairs Commission 1985

Jun 1, 1985 — INTERNATIONAL AFFAIRS COMMISSION

1. Resolved:
We call upon the President of the United States to cancel his planned visit to the German cemetery at Bitburg. The presence of graves of members of the infamous S.S. makes such a visit unconscionable. No honor can be given to murderers under any circumstances and no matter what the political considerations. A visit to Bitburg by Presdient Reagan can only lend support to those who attempt to minimize the evil which overtook the world during the Holocaust and to exonerate those who perpetrated that evil. We urge the President to reconsider. The world must remember without minimization or equivocation!

2. Resolved:
We call upon President Reagan to retract his remark equating the innocent victims of the Nazi holocaust with the German soldier who fought during the second World War. Such an equation is a clear distortion of history and fails to acknowledge the dimension of suffering experienced by our brethren and other innocent victims of the brutal Nazi regime.

3. Resolved:
We applaud President Reagan on his decision to visit the Bergen-Belsen concentration camp during his upcoming trip to Germany. This visit will publicly reaffirm the commitment of all responsible world citizens to the remembrance of the holocaust and its victims.

4. Resolved:
We call upon the government of Paraguay and of all other world communities to release any pertinent information concerning the whereabouts of the infamous Nazi butcher, Dr. Josef Mengeles. We applaud the efforts of those, including recently designated U.S. Marshals, who are actively involved in the search for this inhuman murderer.

5. Resolved:
We reaffirm our dedication to the struggle against all forms of racial prejudice and discrimination. We call upon the South African government to relinquish its policy of apartheid and to grant full rights to all who dwell within its borders.

6. Resolved:
We condemn the recent efforts of specific members within the British House of Commons aimed at introducing anti-shechita legislation in that country. We call upon the Royal Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animal Liberation Front which is also actively involved in this effort. We encourage all governments to resist any attempts at similar discriminatory legislation.

7. Resolved:
We call upon the U.N. and its committees to publicly repudiate anti-Semitic statements which have, recently, found a hearing in official U.N. meetings and records. Only through active renunciation of such statements and accusations will the U.N. regain the sense of balance and fairness essential to its operations.

8. Resolved:
We declare our solidarity with beleaguered Jewish communities in Arab lands, and in other countries of oppression throughout the globe. We call upon all governments of conscience to repudiate the scourge of anti-Semitism and to actively work towards the granting of full religious and political freedom to our brethren where such freedom does not presently exist.