Four leaders of Atlanta’s Jewish community have hailed Archbishop Paul J. Hallinan’s call for the United States to preserve the sovereignty of Israel.

The archbishop told the Atlanta Press Club Monday that the United States should protect the statehood of Israel and the freedom of the open seas and waterways. He said the nation should honor its commitments, adding he hoped there would be no war.

Theodore Freedman, southern director of the Anti-Defamation League, said, “I thought the statement was a very good one. Israel has been confronted with acts of aggression for many years, and it seems to me that the leadership of the Christian community has the responsibility to speak out. I think the nation has the responsibility to appeal to the president and Congress to honor our commitments. If we don’t honor our commitments, then why are we in Vietnam?”

Rabbi Jacob Rothschild of the Temple said he was heartened by the archbishop’s statement. “I have an appreciation for his love of mankind and his sense of justice which reflects the concern of the church he represents.”

“The American Jewish Committee welcomes Archbishop Hallinan’s forthright statement of support for preserving the territorial integrity of Israel and free navigation on international waterways,” said Charles Wittenstein, Southeast area director of the committee.

“His support of the Jewish people in time of crisis is the kind of concrete manifestation of Christian love which gives added force to the idea of brotherhood. The archbishop is recognized by Atlanta Jewry as being one of the truly great religious leaders of our time, and we join him in hoping for lasting peace in the Middle East and elsewhere in the world.”

M.C. Gettinger, executive director of the Jewish Community council, said, “The statement on Israel is most welcome because here is an outstanding religious man who is concerned with the conditions of the world. The support of the archbishop will be most welcome to the courageous people of Israel and to all democratic loving people of the world.”

In his remarks, Archbishop Hallinan told the press club the United States, bogged down in indecision over Vietnam, now finds itself faced with the future of Israel.

“Yet how far shall we go? What commitment, what course should we follow?” he asked. “No one today wants religious wars to be revived. Wars of survival are bad enough.

“Yet it is my belief that Israel’s sovereignty must be preserved. We sacrificed Poland, Lithuania, Czechoslovakia and Hungary against their will when we could have joined with France, England and other great powers to save them. “I hope that at this hour, every force of the civilized world, every means of negotiation, every source of peace will be mustered by the United States to protect the statehood of Israel and the freedom of the open seas and waterways.

“I do not want war at all. But just as I require that the United States keeps herself from all forms of aggression—military, political or economic—so do I defend our right and duty to keep our commitments, undergird our own defense, and help as much as we can to keep the civilized world from being brutally absorbed by those who put power, land and plunder warfare before justice, freedom and peace.”

The archbishop said, “We love with Christian love the Moslems who worship the same God as we. But we love more the Jews whose ancient heritage we share and whose offspring was Our Founder Jesus.”