A joint statement issued today by the presidents of seven national Zionist organizations urged unstinting support for the Student Zionist Organization. It stressed that the future of the Zionist movement “and the entire relationship between American Jewry and Israel, as well as between the United States and Israel, may well be determined by these students.”
The Zionist leaders characterized the manifold activities of the Student Zionist Organization since its inception in 1955 as “beyond all expectations.” They emphasized that “on the many college campuses which it serves, it conducts hundreds of programs each semester in order to give the students an objective picture of Israel’s problems and attainments.”
The students’ group was also hailed for combating “the untruths and the half-truths of the Arab propagandists and their friends”; publishing original student research, sponsoring a Summer Ulpan and numerous other activities. The Zionist leaders also praised the study-and-work programs in Israel sponsored by the Student Organization, as well as its assistance to members who plan to live permanently in Israel.
The plea for adult encouragement as well as for increased membership in the college Zionist group, which is now represented on seventy-two campuses in the United States and Canada, was issued by the presidents of the following major American Zionist bodies: Hadassah; Labor Zionist Organization of America; Progressive Zionist League-Hashomer Hatzair; Religious Zionists of America; United Labor Zionist Party; United Zionists Revisionists of America and Zionist Organization of America.
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