Dr. Nahum Goldmann warned the 35th biennial conference of the Canadian Zionist Organization here today to beware of two “fatal illusions”–that Israel was over the hump, and that Jewish survival was secure in the Diaspora.
The president of the World Zionist Organization reminded the convention that Israel was not yet economically stable, and not yet at peace with its neighbors. As to the communities outside Israel, he noted that many were facing problems of intellectual stagnation and social crisis.
Israel, he declared, needed world Jewry if it were not to decline to the status of yet another Asian or African state among the scores in the United Nations. World Jewry, he said, needed to become a partner, even if a junior partner, and associated with the dignity and creativity of Israel’s achievements.
Dr. Goldmann advocated abolition of the partisan structure of the World Zionist Organization, and the inclusion of general Jewish organizations which support Israel even if they are not prepared to affiliate with present components of the WZO.
Lawrence Freiman, president of the Canadian Zionist Organization, criticized Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion’s views that the Zionist organization was no longer necessary, terming it “unrealistic.” He called for measures that would place the Canadian organization in closer touch with Israel opinion.
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