Leon Dulzin, chairman of the World Zionist Organization and Jewish Agency Executives, appealed today to American Jewish leaders “not to take sides” in Israeli politics and to impose on themselves “a self-discipline” when they make public comments on issues that divide Israeli society.
“By taking sides American Jewish leaders only deepen the division among-Israelis,” Dulzin contended in a press conference at the Jewish Agency headquarters here. Instead, Dulzin said, American Jewish leaders should support the basic consensus in Israel and contribute, by doing so, to unity in Israeli society. He said that “taking sides” by Jewish leaders only helps the enemies of the Jewish State.
Declaring, however, that his appeal does not mean that he is against, “free opinion” and free expression, Dulzin stressed that Jewish leaders should have “a self-imposed discipline not to say certain things.” Dulzin maintained that the Jewish people and Israel are going now through “difficult times.” Therefore, he said, “We need a government of national unity” in Israel today.
WARNS ON DROPOUTS
Turning to the issue of “dropouts,” Soviet Jews who use Israeli exit visas but settle else-where, mainly in the United States, Dulzin warned that the growing number of dropouts could endanger the future of the Jewish Soviet emigration. He pointed out that the Soviet authorities issue exit visas now only to those applicants who have affidavits from close relatives in Israel. “The drop-outs are endangering therefore the possibility of their family members who remain in the Soviet Union to obtain an exit visa,” Dulzin claimed.
Dulzin said that a special commission, comprised of three. Israeli experts on the issue of dropouts and six American Jewish leaders will start discussions this week seeking solution to the dropout problem.
Dulzin said that while some 51,000 Jews left the Soviet Union last year, only 18,000 came to Israel. He predicted that about 20-25,000 Jews will be allowed to leave the USSR this year, of which about 12,000 will settle in Israel. “I urge American Jewish leaders to consider the situation,” Dulzin declared, adding he believed that “together we will find an answer” to the dropout problem.
In a meeting with the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations yesterday, Dulzin also called for a government of national unity in Israel, saying that an end to public quarreling is needed so that the nation can deal effectively with its domestic and international problems. He said there is a consensus on which the Begin government and the opposition agree that includes agreement that there should be no Palestinian state, no negotiations with the Palestine Liberation Organization, no division of Jerusalem and no return to the 1967 borders.
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