The Brit Hasmol. a left-wing faction that broke away from Mapam, announced today that it would run independently in the next Histadrut and Knesset elections. Yaacob Riftin, leader of the group, said the decision was made because Israel vitally needed an independent Zionist Socialist left that “does not yield to the Labor Alignment.”
He said Brit Hasmol would not return to the Mapam fold as long as Mapam remains in the Labor Alignment but that a reunion was possible if Mapam withdrew from the government coalition. Brit Hasmol collected 3633 votes in the last Histadrut elections but got only two delegates among the several hundred elected to the Histadrut Council.
According to Riftin, the Brit Hasmol program calls for: recognition that two nations, Jewish and Arab, exist in “Palestine” and mutual recognition of the rights of each; ending the present state of war by fully backing Security Council Resolution 242 and making peace on the basis of Israel’s 1967 boundaries with only some modifications; a demonstration of Israel’s independence through its dissociation from the U.S. and other Western countries.
Riftin said there was no chance of his group merging with the pro-Israel Maki Communists because that faction was not sufficiently critical or with the pro-Moscow Rakah Communists because Brit Hasmol stands for the right of the Jewish nation to build its homeland in Israel.
The Student Struggle for Soviet Jewry reported today that educated Jews in Kiev are having a difficult time raising money for exit fees and that consequently aliya is slackening. The SSSJ also said that over officials in Kiev are now saying: “We won’t let you go now, but perhaps in two or three years.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
