Stressing his belief that in the coming years “the political situation of the world’s democracies will become graver than ever,” the American representative of the Israel labor federation, Histadrut, yesterday called for the formation of “an alliance of fighters for freedom.”
Concluding a five-year tour of duty in this country, Uzi Bloch told 300 trade unionists at a farewell luncheon at the New York Hilton, that such an alliance should be based “on the American labor movement, the Jewish community and other minority groups, young people, social democrats and intellectuals whose combined might would offset the aggressive policies and punches of the dictatorial and autocratic regimes now dominating the United Nations.” The luncheon was given by the National Committee for Labor Israel and the American Trade Union Council for Histadrut.
Reviewing his five years of stewardship as Histadrut’s representative to American labor, Bloch cited “the growing bond of friendship and cooperation between the AFL-CIO and Histadrut and Israel, Aside from the Jewish community, the AFL-CIO can be regarded as Israel’s best friend.”
Bloch is returning to Tel Aviv later this month, to assume a top-level post in Histadrut’s International Affairs sector. He introduced his successor here, Yaacov Cohen, an expert on Arab workers in Israel. A native of Jerusalem, Cohen joined Histadrut’s Arab Department after the establishment of the State, organizing Arab workers and peasants. Today there are 100,000 Arab members of Histadrut. Earlier this week, Bloch and Cohen were luncheon guests of AFL-CIO President George Meany in Washington.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
