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Dr.goldmann Plunges into Election Campaign in Israel, Justifies Action

August 4, 1961
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Dr. Nabum Goldman held his first “working session” today with leaders of the Liberal party before launching a schedule of election speeches at eight mass rallies throughout Israel beginning tonight.

The world Jewish leader, who arrived last night, was met at the airport by Liberal party leaders and a large corps of newspapermen. He read a prepared statement in which he reiterated his position that he would not attack any other party in Israel in his campaigning for the Liberal party.

He also declared that whoever claimed that a non-Israeli Jew had no right to Israel was taking a dangerous approach leading toward a separation between Israel and Jews in other countries which could be dangerous, if not fatal for Israel. He said that there could be no separation between Israel and Jews elsewhere and that therefore the partnership between the two Jewries was not limited to philanthropy but included the right of the non-Israeli Jew to advise, comment and express views on the key problems, of Israel.

Commenting on his American passport, Dr. Goldmann aged later that if he had an Israeli passport the would not have succeeded in obtaining “those millions of dollars” for the survivors of the Nazi regime. The question, he remarked, was “how many millions for the Jewish nation is my passport worth?” He also stressed that when his house, now under construction in Jerusalem, was completed, he would settle in Israel and bring his family.

Mapai sources meanwhile indicated today they were dissatisfied about Dr. Goldmann’s participation in the Liberal party election campaign, claiming that his post as president of the world Zionist movement has been entrusted to him as a non-party personality. They asserted that his action in joining the Liberal party was done without consulting the Zionist Actions Committee and that he had sent letters to Zionists in the United States asking donations to the Liberals’ election fund.

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