Farband Convention Protests Suppression of Jewish Culture in Russia

A resolution protesting the suppression of Jewish culture in the Soviet Union and requesting that the Jews there should be given the right to live their own cultural life was adopted here today at the convention of the Farband Labor Zionist Order. The resolution also requested the Soviet Government to permit emigration of Jews to Israel and other free countries.

Another resolution called on the United States Government and the United Nations to use “all methods at their command” to put an end to the economic boycott of Israel by the Arab States. The resolution termed the boycott “an economic war of retaliation which imperils peace in the Middle East and peace in the world. ” The resolution called upon the United States and the State of New York to cease being parties to Saudi Arabian discrimination against American firms and individuals.

The convention pledged fullest support of Israel as the bastion of democracy and freedom in an area which is otherwise “backward.” It declared that Israel is necessary not only for peace and security of the Middle East but also for the peace of the world. The resolution stated that Israel must be strengthened economically, politically, and in every other way for the survival of Jewry the world over.

Another resolution urged the strengthening of cultural and educational activities in every phase of American Jewish life. It emphasized that just as American Jewry needs Israel, so does Israel need creative, dynamic American Jewry. The resolution called for the creation in Israel of a commission to relay to Israelis full and accurate information about the vitality of American Jewish life. The delegates called on the United Nations to establish an international commission for world-wide observance of an annual “day of remembrance” in memory of the 6, 000, 000 Jewish martyrs of Hitlerism.

AMERICAN JEWISH COMMUNITY URGED TO MAKE ISRAEL “STRONG AND SECURE”

Meyer L. Brown was re-elected president of the Farband. Louis Segal, who has served as general secretary of the organization for more than 25 years, was re-elected for a sixth term. Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, national vice-chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, addressing the convention, declared that survival of the Jewish people is most important, not only for the Jews, but for the entire world. “In order that that task be achieved,” he declared, “Jewry must help gather and bring to Israel those Jews who need to and wish to go to Israel–and Israel must be aided “to build a secure, stable and solid country, capable of absorbing the Jews who are there and are to come there.”

“The entire concept of the American Jewish community must be centered on making Israel strong, secure, and capable of fulfilling its task,” Rabbi Friedman continued. “This is not to say that survival of the Jewish people in America is unimportant. But the atomic pile for that survival is Israel–not America. Israel is the source of prime energy for Jewish survival. Israel is the central furnace.”

Abba Koushy, Mayor of Haifa, told the delegates that Israel, in the last three years, has increased its industrial output by 37 percent; raised its electric power production by 62 percent; and has made tremendous strides in agricultural development, so that it produces now almost all the foodstuffs it consumes. However, he warned that the dollar gap between Israeli exports and Israeli imports was the most serious economic hazard facing the country.

Yaacov Herzog, Israel Charge d’Affaires, declared in an address read for him that at least 14 crises have shaken the Arab countries in the Middle East during the past two years. Most, if not all, of these crises could be traced to United Arab Republic subversion, direct and indirect, he said, adding that during the past two years, the various countries in the area had increasingly demonstrated an understanding of the doctrine of independence and integrity for all countries in the Middle East.

The Sinai campaign of 1956 in a sense opened a new epoch in this respect, he asserted, pointing out that Israel had moved from a sense of survival to one of durability. There is now more long-term planning, more contemplation of the realities of statehood and more study is being given to Israel’s ultimate role in the Middle East and to its spiritual relationship with world Jewry, he stated.