General Zionist Confederation Calls for ‘world Wide Jewish Unity’

A declaration calling for “worldwide Jewish unity” and affirming “Israel’s role and destiny as the spiritual center of a world Jewry and most potent factor for Jewish survival everywhere,” was adopted here tonight at the opening session of a three-day conference of the executive of the World Confederation of General Zionists attended by 40 representatives from various countries.

Dr. Emanuel Neumann, president of the Confederation, presented a six-point program to the session, whish was adopted. The program urges the worldwide constituency of the Confederation: 1. To promote a close and mature relationship between the Jews in the Diaspora and in Israel; 2. To fight unceasingly against the forces of assimilation, disintegration and Jewish isolationism; 3. To foster among Jewish youth the feeling of solidarity and unreserved commitment to traditional Jewish values and Zionist ideals; 4. To encourage idealistic aliya to Israel in the pioneering spirit; 5. To spread the knowledge and spirit of Hebrew as the lingua franca of the Jewish world; and 6. To influence the organization of Jewish communal life in all countries on a democratic basis.

This is the first time that a plenary session of the executive of the World Confederation of General Zionists, headed by Dr. Neumann, is held in New York. Participating in the session are General Zionist leaders from the United States, South America, Europe and Israel. The session tonight was also addressed by Joseph Saphir, former Israel Minister of Communications and member of the Knesset as a leader of the Liberal party; Leon Dultzin, member of the Jewish Agency executive in Jerusalem and a vice-president of the Confederation; Herzl Gesang of Buenos Aires, president of the Latin America Confederation of General Zionists; Jacques Orfus, president of the Zionist Organization of France; and Jacques Torozyner, of New York, a vice-president of the Confederation.