More than 2,000 guests at a $50-plate dinner in honor of Menachem Beigin, former leader of the Irgun Zvai Leumi and present head of the Irgun-sponsored Freedom Movement in Israel, last night heard him toast David Ben Gurion, “our first Premier who granted me an exit permit to come to the United States.” He emphasized that without the action of the Irgun, Ben Gurion today would have been the chairman of the Jewish Agency executive but not the Premier of a Jewish state.
Interrupted frequently by applause from the guests, the Freedom Movement leader outlined his party’s domestic and foreign policy program for Israel. Firstly, he condemned the Bernadotte plan and then the variation of the British proposal as amended by Philip Jessup, American delegate at the U.N. “Even an American plan allegedly supported by the British still is a British plan, and its purpose is still to choke us within the walls of the ghetto, whatever its name may be,” he said. Beigin insisted that the Jewish state must be comprised of the area on both sides of the Jordan River.
Turning to internal affairs, Beigin stated that Israel must have a system of direct democracy, with the constitution guaranteeing each citizen the right to participate in popular referendums on major issues. He asserted that the Jewish state, even if it were to include the present territory of Transjordan, would still be small enough to permit such procedure.
In the economic field, he pledged that his party would fight all forms of trusts and monopolies, whether they are controlled by individuals, groups or factions. “Monopolies in any form and shape oppose the common man,” he said. However, he emphasized that the Freedom Movement advocates the investment of private capital in the upbuilding of Israel. Asserting that such a program was “practical,” he stated that it was necessary ” so that our country could be made economically sound and absorb the hundreds of thousands of repatriates who shall return to their homeland.”
In conclusion he expressed the belief that “Palestine will be free–all of it’s that millions of Jews will come to Israel; that peace and brotherhood will prevail in the country between Hebrews and Arabs; and, that under the influence of the Jewish state the Middle East will once again become prosperous and progressive.
At a press conference earlier he characterized charges made against him and the Irgun yesterday by three American religious leaders as “distortion of fact” and “part of a smear campaign.” He said that he was in this country on a “mission of good will” and did not come here to quarrel with or attack anyone. He denied that the Irgun-sponsored Freedom Party in Israel was totalitarian, as charged by the clergymen.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
