The American Jewish Committee today issued a statement emphasizing that it does not presume to speak for the Jews of America, however it believes that American Jews are entitled to express their interest in Israel “according to their own inclinations as individuals or through organizations” and rejects the idea that contacts between American Jews and Israel should be exclusively channelled through a central authority, whether Zionist or otherwise.
The statement was signed by Frederick Greenman, president of the American Jewish Committee, as well as by all honorary presidents including Jacob Blaustein, Herbert B. Ehrmann, Judge Joseph Proskauer and Irving M. Engel. It also carried the signatures of Senator Herbert H. Lehman and Samuel Leidesdorf, honorary vice-presidents, and of William Rosenwald, chairman of the AJC National Advisory Council. The text reads:
“There has been general agreement on the importance of the joint statement by Prime Minister David Ben Gurion of Israel and Jacob Blaustein, Honorary President of the American Jewish Committee, clarifying the relationship between Israel and Jews in other countries. Unfortunately, however, the focussing of public discussion on the recipient of the Prime Minister’s statement threatens to obscure the over riding fact of the statement’s validity and introduces a different issue.
“This issue is whether American Jews may continue, as in the past, to express their interest in Israel according to their own inclirations, as individuals or through organizations of their own choosing. This free expression of religious and cultural relationships, in accord with the American pattern of voluntarism, is threatened by insistence on the part of the president of the World Zionist Organization that contacts between American Jews and Israel should be exclusively channelled through a particular intermediary, or self-styled ‘bridge.’
“The American Jewish Committee recognizes no overall spokesman for the Jews of the United States, much less of the world. The Jews of the United States are not a monolithic entity within American society. Their outlook toward Israel, like their attitudes toward all other interests — religious, social, civic or cultural — are determined by each person for himself and find expression in a variety of organizations.
“The American Jewish Committee of course does not presume to speak for the Jews of America. This no group can do. We speak only for our own constituency. But we believe that many American Jews share our view, which repudiates the assumption of central authority by any organization, whether Zionist or otherwise.
“The substantive questions embodied in the joint statement are no longer in dispute. In 1950 and again in 1961, the Prime Minister stated that Israel speaks only for its own citizens; that the Israel Government will in no way interfere in the internal affairs of American Jews; and that emigration to Israel is a purely voluntary act based on individual choice. These principles are not challenged — either by the President of the World Zionist Organization, or by any Government official or political spokesman in Israel.
“The American Jewish Committee, now as in the past, stands ready to cooperate with all organizations which strive for the goals to which we have dedicated ourselves for more than half a century –to protect the dignity and security of Jews in the United States and throughout the world, within the framework of equality for all people; and to help strengthen Israel as a viable democracy in the free world, within the context of America’s best interests.”
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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.
