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ZOA Rejects World Zionist Organization Plan to Re-organize Movement

March 25, 1968
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The leadership of the Zionist Organization of America rejected today proposals of the World Zionist Organization’s reorganization committee as “harmful to the further development of the Zionist movement” and reaffirmed “the long held view of our organization” that the existing system of separate Zionist groups be continued. The statement was embodied in a resolution adopted by 200 members of the ZOA’s national executive committee meeting here. They also endorsed the continuation of the American section of the Jewish Agency. “Any attempt” to dissolve it, they said, would weaken Zionist activities “in the largest Jewish community in the world.”

In an address to the group, ZOA president Jacques Torczyner said that Israel’s preventive thrust against terrorist bases in Jordan Thursday came as no surprise because it was a result of repeated provocation. “Israel cannot let her women and children be at the mercy of Arab terrorists,” he said, adding that “if the Arab world were not certain of the support of the Soviet Union, the Arabs would have been more inclined to talk about peace in direct negotiations.”

On the domestic scene, the ZOA head called for “genuine cooperation” between Jews and Negroes to reduce tensions and charged that the Jewish defense agencies have not been able to establish a constructive relationship with Negroes because of their general attitude and philosophy. He called for an educational program to explain Jewish problems to Negroes and the true meaning of Israel and Zionism.

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