Head of Rabbinical Council of America Supports Gush Emunim

The President of the Rabbinical Council of America, Rabbi Fabian Schonfeld, told a press conference here today that he fully supported the “Gush Enumin” right-wing settlement movement and believed the “vast majority” of RCA’s 1,100 members did so too. Rabbi Schonfeld also said that he — like Gush Emunim — was totally opposed to the current settlement proposals in the Sinal and believed it would bring war in its wake.

Rabbi Schonfeld, who was accompanied by RCA’s Israel branch head Rabbi Menahem Holtzer, Emunim leaders Yohanan Fried and Hanan Porat, said he was not speaking in his official capacity as RCA president and could not commit the Orthodox group to these views. Nevertheless, he was convinced that these views were widely shared by RCA members. The rabbi, who is also a member of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations, said “many” members of the Presidents Conference also supported “Emunim” and its policies. He named Rabbi Joseph Sternstein, president of the Zionist Organization of America, as an example.

ISRAEL FAILS TO GIVE INSTRUCTIONS

Rabbi Schonfeld charged the Israeli government with failing to give “instructions” to the American Jewish leadership on how to act in support of Israel. He implied that many American Jews were opposed to the Ford-Kissinger policies. While it was “understandable” that Israel’s leaders did not want to run into a “confrontation” with the Washington Administration, American Jewish citizens had “the right and the duty” to express their views, he said. He noted that many American Jews felt — like he himself did — that a more pro-Israeli policy would serve America’s interests better than the current even-handedness. As regards the current settlement negotiations, Rabbi Schonfeld said that while Sinai was not part of historic Eretz Israel, retreat from the Mitle and Gidi passes on the terms offered seemed an invitation to disaster. The settlement terms called for no concessions from Egypt, with Israel being urged to make all the meaningful concessions, he said.

‘FRIENDS OF GUSH EMUNIM’ IN U.S.

The RCA had invited Fried to the U.S. and he appeared on RCA platforms around the country, Rabbi Schonfeld reported. As a result it had been decided to establish a “Friends of Gush Emunim” organization in the U.S. “We see Emunim as the instrumentality for explaining Jewry’s historic right to Eretz Israel to American public opinion” Rabbi Schonfeld said, Porat said the aim of the new “Friends of Emunim” organization in the U.S. was to “inspire a major reawakening among American Jews” on the issues which Israelis considered vital to the existence of the State.