The situation of the Jews in the Soviet Union and in other countries where Jews may face danger to their survival was analyzed here last night by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Zionist Organization, in his address before the Zionist Actions Committee, the supreme ruling body of the world Zionist movement between Zionist Congresses.
“Viewed superficially and from the outside,” Dr. Goldmann told the 120 top Zionist leaders assembled from 12 countries, “the position of the Jews seems better than ever before, with no serious threats of anti-Semitism, almost universal equality of rights, and prosperity for the bulk of Jewish people.
“However,” he cautioned, “a deeper look into the forces which determine the future of people reveals dangers already threatening, as well as imminent threats to various sections of Jewry. One source of danger lies in the inherent character of the period which is one of the least stable and potentially more revolutionary in history. When such a situation erupts, the position of the Jewish community is threatened or ruined.
“A classic example” of such a situation, he continued, “is Castro’s Cuba, where a flourishing Jewish community was ruined overnight–not because of anti-Semitism but due to a social revolution which destroyed the Cuban middle class and affected the Jewish community perhaps more totally than any other part of the Cuban population.
“Another element of potential and factual danger for the survival of Jewry is the growing omnipotence of states, coupled with violent nationalism that does not deny equal human and civic rights to Jews, but is not ready to grant them rights and facilities to live their distinct lives as Jews. This is the real problem of the three million Jewish community in the Soviet Union.
“The undeniable existence of anti-Semitic feelings among part of the Soviet people would in itself not endanger the survival of the Jews or their position as equal citizens, although it could, if not stopped, develop into such a threat. But the real problem is the undeniable refusal of the Soviet Government to allow Jews to live their own life–religiously, culturally nationally–and the tendency to impose on them enforced assimilation and disintegration.”
“Similar dangers exist in other countries, although for quite different reasons,” Dr. Goldmann continued. “This situation,” he said, “justifies anew the fundamental Zionist analysis. This means the Zionist solution of the Jewish problem: concentration on more and more Jewish immigration into Israel, and the creation of a center for the people. This principle is as valid today as any other time until now. Therefore, the naive illusion that the Zionist concept has lost its meaning, that it has fulfilled its task and could leave the scene of Jewish history, proves from day to day to be less justified.”
Abba Eban, Minister of Education, addressed the Actions Committee as the official representative of the Government of Israel. The task of the Zionist movement, he said, “is not yet completed.” The very posing of the question about the movement’s reason for existence,” he said, “indicates a crisis; but it indicates in no way a negation of its importance and necessity. The Zionist movement ought to encourage immigration from prosperous countries, in order to assure an influx of human elements badly needed here.”
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.
