Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion resumed his polemical battle against the Zionist movement today with a comment in the Knesset, Israel’s Parliament, that he doubted that the adjective “Zionist” was appropriate for the forthcoming World Zionist Congress. He remarked that he was “willing to advise my friends not to recognize this Congress as Zionist but my friends do not share this view.”
The Prime Minister made his comments in reply to a question from Joseph Serlin, General Zionist Knesset member, who asked whether the Prime Minister was aware that two Mapai Cabinet members had presented their candidacies for the Congress in lists abroad. He was referring to Finance Minister Levi Eshkol in Britain and Minister of Education Abba Eban in Belgium.
The Prime Minister replied that he felt “nobody should be a candidate for the Zionist Congress since that name does not fit the Congress.” However, he added, others think otherwise and have a right to participate in the Congress elections and to present their candidacies.
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