Zionist Leader Calls for Re-establishing Israel-ussr Diplomatic Relations

A noted Zionist leader said today that “it is very important that diplomatic relations be re-established between the Soviet Union and Israel” in order to give Israel an opportunity to discuss Middle East solutions directly with the second superpower instead of having to go through third parties, namely the United States. This statement was made by Jacques Torczyner, chairman of the administrative board of the Zionist Organization of America and chairman of the American Section of the World Jewish Congress.

Addressing several hundred delegates attending the Manhattan region of the ZOA, Torczyner observed that although Secretary of State Henry A. Kissinger “is making heroic efforts” to bring about a disengagement of Israeli and Syrian forces on the Golan Heights, “the weakness of the present situation of Israel is that it can only act through the United States.” He noted:

“In the same way that the talks in the Middle East have improved the relations of the United States with Arab countries, the resumption of diplomatic relations between the Soviet Union and Israel will improve relations between those two countries and give an opportunity to the Israelis to discuss directly the solutions without having to go through third parties, however friendly they might be.”

Torczyner stated that the USSR appears “eager for diplomatic relations with Israel because they don’t want to leave all the initiative to the U.S.” He recalled that Andrei Gromyko, the Soviet Foreign Minister, backed the United Nations partition plan of 1947 for the establishment of a Jewish State and that the USSR recognized Israel immediately after the U.S. announced diplomatic recognition in May 1948.

The former president of the ZOA added: “In the world we live in, it is very important to have direct communications between states and that the breaking of diplomatic relations make it more difficult to find solutions to problems than through direct contact.”