American League for Israel Urges Changes in Zionist Constitution

Radical changes in the constitution of the World Zionist Organization were urged here today at a meeting of the board of directors of the American Jewish League for Israel, held at the Barbizon Plaza Hotel. The League’s delegation to the forthcoming World Zionist Congress, which will take place this month in Jerusalem, was instructed to influence the Congress to make such changes “especially because of the situation in the Zionist movement in the United States.”

Following the meeting, Samuel Daroff, president of the League, made public the following statement:

“In the case of the Zionist movement in the United States, where the bulk of Diaspora Jewry lives today, there will have to be radical changes in composition, outlook and program. It will have to open wide its doors to all those Jewish organizations and groups which, in their daily work, demonstrate an Israel-orientation or interest which is fully as constructive as that of the formal Zionist organizations. Zionists in the United States must be prepared to give up their parties, which in their parallelism to the political parties of Israel, are detrimental to the projection of the Zionist ideal as a broad, united action for Israel and for the preservation of Jewish creative life in the Diaspora.”

“Only one single, united Zionist body can and should exist in the United States if we are, at this eleventh hour, to fulfill those tasks which the movement has undertaken and which history has assigned to it. Zionism must free itself from its outmoded cliches, from its antiquated constitution and phraseology, and from the procedures which no longer have any meaning in Jewish life today–such as the shekel and party demarcations. The prerequisite for representation at Congresses should be membership in the movement and active service to Israel and Diaspora life, in the field of Jewish education, preservation of Jewish creative survival, aliyah and chalutziut, Israel drives of all kinds, UJA, Bonds, etc.”

Principal speakers at the meeting included Judge Louis Levinthal, Dr. Dewey Stone, Ezra Shapiro, Jacob Alkow, Louis Falk and Rabbi Arthur Lelyveld. The meeting elected a delegation to the Zionist Congress to be headed by Mr. Daroff. The delegation includes Judge Levinthal, Mr. Shapiro, Fred Monosson, Eleazar Lipsky, Dr. Simon Greenberg, Mr. Alkow, Mr. Falk, Louis Rocker and E. J. Evans.