Emphasizing that he does not speak as the Premier of Israel nor as a member of the Israel Cabinet but as a Zionist and a member of the Zionist Actions Committee, David Ben Gurion today clarified his attitude toward the World Zionist Organization and the Jewish Agency.
Addressing the Actions Committee, Mr. Ben Gurion said that Zionism today is based on three pillars: Jews who live in Israel and identify themselves with the Jewish state, proud to give their lives for Israel; those who intend to come to Israel for permanent settlement; those who do not intend to come to Israel in the near future.
Mr. Ben Gurion denied that confusion exists in the relations between the Israel Government and the Jewish Agency. He suggested that a special development authority, with unlimited power to extend immigration and settlement of immigrants, be set up with the Agency and the Israel Government acting as equal partners in it.
Mr. Ben Gurion insisted that immigration was more important even than the state, adding that immigration is tied up with continuation of the state. Pointing to the example of the Yemenite migration, he said that the same offort would be made to transfer Iraqi Jewry and Rumanian Jews “if Rumania opens its gates.”
He warned again that the danger which confronted Israel on the day it was proclaimed still exists. “We have not won yet,” he said. “We are a million this year, but the Arabs are sixty million.” Mr. Ben Gurion reiterated that Israel would not restrict immigration, even if immigration is a burden. He then called on all Jews to help bear this burden and urged an end to “financial reckonings between brethren with a common vision.”
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