The four-day convention of the National Committee for Labor Israel, attended by more than 3,000 delegates from all parts of the United States, Canada and Latin America, concluded here today with the adoption of a $5,000,000 quota for the current Histadrut campaign. The convention marked the 30th anniversary of the Histadrut campaign in this country.
The convention adopted a resolution criticizing the United Nations for its resolution censuring Israel. At the same time, it urged the United Nations to hasten the peace conference which Israel has asked the Secretary General to convene. It also expressed the hope “that our own government, with the same alacrity that it displayed in pressing for a motion of censure, will call for a real step toward peace.”
At a session in Carnegie Hall last night, Israel Ambassador Abba Eban charged the United Nations with failing to provide Israel with “a minimum of security.” He suggested that the United Nations policy of reluctance to act toward peace had now degenerated to reluctance even to talk about peace.
Ambassador Eban charged that the Western powers had embarked on a policy of avoiding any irritation of the Arab countries. He said that the peace conference with Jordan for which Israel had asked, invoking Article XII of the armistice agreement which provides for compulsory meetings in critical situations, may mark a turning point in the troubled situation on Israel’s borders.
Senator Morse, addressing the audience, described Histadrut in Israel as a worldwide symbol of “freedom for free workers in a free society.” He pledged himself to continue to be a member of “that small band” of members of Congress to whom the freedom of Israel was of greater value than Arab oil.
Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the Jewish Agency executive, told the audience that although he is not a member of the Histadrut, he must emphasize the fact that without the Histadrut the present achievements in Israel would have been impossible. He lauded the Histadrut campaign in the United States for the work which it has been doing to win friends for Israel among the non-Jewish American workers.
Today’s session was addressed by Mayor-elect Robert F. Wagner of New York who greeted the delegates. The convention closed with the election of national officers of the organization, several of them for their 31st year in office, including Joseph Schlossberg as national chairman of the National Committee for Labor Israel and Isaac Hamlin, national secretary. Checks amounting to $500,000 were presented at the closing session towards the $5,000,000 quota. They included $100,000 from the delegates from Canada.
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