Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion, replying to strong Danish Jewish protests against his appeal to Scandinavian Jewish youth to migrate to Israel, said today at a press conference that he had simply expressed “my personal views.”
He made the comment when he was questioned about the widely publicized rebuke from Chief Rabbi Phil Marcus Melchior for his address to a group of Scandinavian Jewish youth Monday. He urged them to go to Israel for settlement or at least for study because he was concerned about the future of Jews in countries “where assimilation is so marked.” The Chief Rabbi declared that the appeal “affected the essential interests of Danish Jews” and condemned it in strong language.
After declaring at the press conference today that he believed that “every Jew can find complete satisfaction in Israel” and that “anyway, I expressed in this matter my personal views,” the Prime Minister covered a variety of topics in response to other questions.
Following a farewell luncheon with Premier Otto Krag and Foreign Minister Haekkerup, the Prime Minister and his party were scheduled to leave for Iceland, the last stop on the Prime Minister’s five-nation Scandinavian tour.
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