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Dinitz Stresses Diaspora’s Importance

December 28, 1987
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Simcha Dinitz, the new chairman of the World Zionist Organization Executive, offered two axioms to members of the combined WZO-Jewish Agency staff at a meeting here Sunday.

He said the very existence of the Jewish state in the future will depend on its links with diaspora Jewry. And he said the existence of the WZO-Jewish Agency will depend on “turning it into an efficient organ, so that we do not find ourselves in the future all together on a sinking ship.”

Dinitz, a Labor member of the Knesset and a former Israeli ambassador to the United States, was elected head of the WZO at the 31st World Zionist Congress held here Dec. 6 to 10. In his keynote address, he stressed the need for efficiency and restructuring.

Only confidence and close cooperation between management and staff can achieve these goals, he told the staffers Sunday.

As for the ties binding Israel with Jews overseas, Dinitz observed that 4 million Jews in Israel cannot ensure the state’s survival indefinitely without being a part of the worldwide Jewish experience and existence.

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