Opposition Move is Attack on Entire Weizmann Regime, Zionist Organ Declares

Interesting details of the Sunday session of Hadassah’s National Board, at which time decisions were taken definitely alligning the women’s Zionist organization leadership with the opposition, are related in an editorial in this week’s issue of the “New Palestine” which will appear today.

The action of the Hadassah National Board is termed unconstitutional and the move of the opposition is declared to be the result of a desire to secure vindication for those who were defeated in the Zionist movement in 1921 and constitutes an attack upon the Weizmann regime and the Jewish Agency plan, in an editorial which is signed by Louis Lipsky, president of the Zionist Organization.

“This act of the National Board is a part of the calculated program, which has brought about the resignations and statements as a form of ‘courteous’ reception of Dr. Weizmann.” the editorial states. “This Hadassah National Board action ties up with the larger maneuver of the organized opposition, the culmination of which is expected to take place in Washington on Sunday. We declare that the rank and file of Hadassahs are being misrepresented in the action of their Board.

“At the proper time and place, the American Zionist administration will make clear its entire record, withholding nothing, in order that the whole Jewish public may read for itself an account of seven years of devotion and sacrifice, which will prove, beyond the shadow of a doubt, that this destructive campaign which is being waged against the administration, openly and beneath the ground, is based upon partisan motives and hatreds, is not animated by a desire to improve conditions, but is concerned largely with a desire to secure vindication for those who were defeated in 1921. It is an attack upon the entire Weizmann regime; and coming at this time, it is in effect an attack upon Palestine itself.” the editorial continues.

“The entrance into the controversy of the National Board of Hadassah, acting in its official capacity, the registration of its decisons on matters of general Zionist policy–ex parte decisions–makes it necessary for us to address ourselves to the organized Zionists of the country in order that further misunderstanding be avoided, and, if possible, to prevent a breach in the Zionist Organization and irreparable damage to our campaigns and to other important international enterprises, including the Jewish Agency, that depend for their success, as most Zionists know, upon the preservation of order and constitutional methods in the Zionist Organization.

“The National Board of Hadassah summoned an extraordinary meeting, which was held in New York last Saturday night and all day Sunday, to which presidents of chapters and of regional unions were invited. The object of the meeting was to decide whether the National Board should take a definite stand in regard to the reorganization problems of the Zionist Organization of America, and if so, what that stand should be.

“The Administrative Committee considered that the interests of the movement required the presence at that conference of representatives of the Administration in order to participate in the discussions, to exchange information and to help, if possible, in creating a better understanding. The letter addressed by the Administrative Committee to the National Board of Hadassah elicited the response that, for various reasons, it would be advisable for the Administrative Committee not to be present at the conference. Notwithstanding this refusal to accede to a proper request made by the highest executive authority in the Zionist Organization of America; overlooking the breach of discipline involved in this matter, the Administrative Committee again addressed itself to the National Board and asked for the right to be present at the conference, through a subcommittee consisting of Messrs. Morrison, Rothenberg and Lipsky, in order to avoid future misunderstandings and to put an end to differences that had arisen between the officers of Hadassah and the Administration.

“No reply came to this second communication until Sunday morning at 9.30, when the Secretary of the Executive Committee was informed over the telephone that the Board had decided against the admission of a sub-committee of the Administrative Committee, but that the President of the Zionist Organization of America would be welcome to attend the Sunday morning and afternoon sessions, with the understanding that he would make a statement only after the discussion had come to an end. This conditional invitation was given, after there had been a session of the conference on Saturday night, at which the President of Hadassah made an address of an hour and a half in length, in which general accusations had been leveled against the President of the Zionist Organization, and after there had been a discussion of these accusations. Under the circumstances, the President of the Zionist Organization of America, on behalf of the Administrative Committee, appeared at the meeting to make a statement in which he pointed out the unfairness of having discussicus take place, dealing with accusations against persons, without giving the persons accused an opportunity to have the accusations made in their presence, or to make a statement immediately after the accusations had been leveld against them.

“It may therefore be said that the National Board met in the absence of the Administration Committee of the Zionist Organization of America, a party interested in its discussions, affected by its discussions, and without whose cooperation an orderly consideration of problems to be submitted to the convention could not be undertaken. We have yet to receive a stenographic report of the conference. Various accounts have come to us, and what appears to be a series of adopted resolutions on organization have been perused and studied. It is amazing to think that many women from all parts of the United States had to be called together in order to consider a program so hastily constructed and so lacking in knowledge of the history of our Organization. Some of the suggestions were improvised paragraphs on matters that have been talked of in all kinds of Zionist conferences and meetings. They represented no issues, and they could just as well have been submitted to a mixed audience of men and women as to the membership of a National Board, summonded in great alarm to come to an extraordinary session of the Board.

“This program is to be subordinated however, to the vote taken late at night which was labeled as a vote of lack of confidence in the American Zionist administration and which, it appears, was the sole intent and purpose of the leaders of Hadassah to obtain from the meeting. If this vote is taken as an expression of the personal judgment of members of the National Board, there can be no dispute about the right of the individual members of the Board to pass any resolution they desire. But this must be regarded as a vote of the National Board of Hadassah. As such we declare it to be an act without any authority. It has never been submitted in advance to the chapters for their consideration. It is an unconstitutional act, for the National Board represents the chapters only in matters that have been delegated to it, that deal with Hadassah’s special functions, and no authority has ever been given to the National Board to pass judgment on general Zionist policies in the name of Hadassah.” the editorial declares.