American Zionists were called upon tonight by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, to “react vigorously” to the attacks on Zionism coming from various quarters lately in this country. He urged American Zionist leadership to start “an ideological offensive” within American Jewry to increase the influence of Zionism in American Jewish life.
In a major address delivered at a public meeting at the Hotel Roosevelt, sponsored by the American Zionist Council, central coordinating body of all Zionist groups in this country, Dr. Goldmann said that the attacks on the Zionist movement, and “the cheap advice” given to it to dissolve itself, are the result either of a malicious attitude to Israel or based on a wrong analysis of the situation both of Israel and the Jewish communities.
“The Zionist movement,” Dr. Goldmann declared, “is still, by far, the most potent and dynamic force in Jewish life. It has a record as few historical movements have of having brought about the creation of the State of Israel. But it is still far from having achieved its fundamental aims which are – to make Israel secure, to bring into Israel the hundreds of thousands of Jews for whom Israel is the only salvation, to increase the immigration into Israel from the free Jewish communities and, above all, to tie up Jewish life everywhere with Israel as the one spiritual and moral center of the existence of the Jewish people.”
Dr. Goldmann took issue with an editorial which appeared recently in Life magazine alleging that “American Zionism has had an occasionally distorting influence on the United States foreign policy in the Middle East.” He pointed out that Israel is the only reliable friend of the West in the Middle East. He also rejected other allegations made in the editorial.
The Zionist leader also took issue with those elements in American -Jewry who claim that there are no differences existing anymore between Zionists and non-Zionists, and therefore the Zionist movement could be replaced by an over-all Jewish organization. “While it is true,” he said, “that the majority of the Jewish people support Israel, at least financially and sentimentally, it is native to believe that the majority has adopted the Zionist program.
STRESSES DANGER OF ASSIMILATION; NOTES GROWING INDIFFERENCE TO ISRAEL
“The Zionist movement,” Dr. Goldmann continued, “has increasingly important tasks within American Jewry because of the danger of growing indifference to Israel, especially in the young generation, the danger of complete assimilation of a large part of the future-generation which can be remedied only by its being tied up with Israel and by the acceptance of the Zionist concept of Jewish life centered around Israel. These dangers are in creasing and make the tasks of the Zionist movement more and more imperative in the United States and in other countries.
“At this moment, there is no possibility of an over-all Jewish organization which would accept the full Zionist program,” the world Zionist leader stressed. “What is necessary is to bring many Jewish groups and organizations closer to Zionism, get them to cooperate and participate in Zionist activities, even if they don’t join fully. But just to proclaim in a sensational form the dissolution of a Zionist movement and the appeal for a new all-embracing organization is pure dilettantism based on superficiality and demagogy.
“Israel will still face danger periods and will require the Zionist movement with its devotion to Israel as its primary content for many years to come, Dr. Goldmann said. “Similarly, the Jewish Diaspora needs Zionism and its concept of the Jewish future more than ever before. For these reasons, the Zionist movement in this country has to go on the offensive, has to do everything to become the leading force in American Jewish life. It can do it only by uniting its efforts and by vigorous united action.”
Dr. Goldmann called on the Zionist groups to begin to implement the decisions of the last Zionist Congress “to unite within the American Zionist Council which has to become the main instrument of Zionist activities in all fields of American Jewish life and to hit back vigorously at the fashionable game of criticizing and giving unwanted advice to the Zionist movement.”
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.
