The World Zionist Organization announced yesterday that it has established a new coordinating body to be concerned with the activities of Zionist federations in Europe. Avraham Shenker, head of the WZO’s organization and information department, said it would coordinate and improve the Zionist information network in Europe, strengthen the status of Zionist federations there and serve as a center for the exchange of information. He said a working plan for the new body would be submitted to the European federations within three months.
Shenker’s announcement coincided with sharp criticism of Zionist federations abroad from veteran WZO official and Labor Zionist leader Yitzhak Koren. In an interview published today in the Jerusalem Post, Koren charged that the functions of Zionist federations around the world were hampered by inactive or indifferent members and complicated by party politics. “They are in a state of deep freeze and must be reformed,” he declared.
Koren also suggested that the federations be opened to new groups, not necessarily party organizations, but groups such as the World Sephardi Movement or the movements of Reform and Conservative Judaism.
Shenker announced that an agreement has been reached in negotiations with the Conservative Movement which is joining the WZO. He said their senior representative would sit on the WZO Executive in Jerusalem and an additional representative would be a member of the WZO-American Section, but without voting power.
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.
