Israel’s Deputy Premier and Foreign Minister Yigal Allon said here last night that his country “is much stronger today than before the Yom Kippur War because of the close relationship between the United States and Israel.”
Addressing 700 campaign leaders from 13 states at the United Jewish Appeal Western Leadership Conference here, Allon declared, “We must move from the peace-keeping to the peacemaking process. War is possible but not inevitable and we shall leave no stone unturned in our search for peace.”
Allon said that Israel “would willingly accept U.S. mediation and we are ready to compromise territorially, but not on our defense and security.” He called for strengthening the partnership of the people of Israel and the American Jewish community.
Allon also said, “We hope and pray that Jewish emigration from the Soviet Union will be allowed to continue. The fact that Jews in the Soviet Union still wish to leave in order to gain religious freedom is a miracle,” he said: Allon said the primary reason that Jews were being allowed to leave the USSR was the efforts by the U.S. Congress headed by Sen. Henry M. Jackson (D.Wash.).
Responding to the Israeli leader, Frank R. Lautenberg, general chairman of the UJA, said, “We are inspired and strengthened by your words and I can assure you that the commitment of the American Jewish community to the preservation and building of Israel has never been deeper or more meaningful. We will never be silent.”
The conference was chaired by Bram Goldsmith, UJA national chairman from Los Angeles and co-chaired by Melvin M. Swig, regional chairman of the UJA Campaign Cabinet, from San. Francisco. Other speakers included Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz; Jack Weiler, chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee; Allen Pollack, professor of Russian history at Yeshiva University; and Sylvia Hassenfeld, chairman of the UJA women’s division.
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.
