Inclusion of Non-zionists in Jewish Agency Hinted by Goldmann

The possibility of including non-Zionists in the Jewish Agency after the Israel Parliament grants the Agency a special status was indicated here today by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, addressing the opening session of the Mid-Winter Conference of Hadassah.

Representatives of more than 1,200 chapters of Hadassah are attending the conference, which is scheduled to last four days. The parley will hear progress reports on Hadassah’s health and welfare program in Israel, will map expansion of its projects and will elect a new national president.

Discussing the question of the special status requested by the Jewish Agency. Dr. Goldman told the Hadassah delegates that he hoped the Israel Parliament would soon pass the bill granting the Agency the “authority to deal with immigration, absorption and similar activities and to co-ordinate the work in this field of other non-Israel organizations.” Opposition to this status by some non-Zionist groups, Dr. Goldmann said, was “based primarily on the misconception that it would apply not only in Israel, but all over the world. The Zionist movement has never asked for such status, “he emphasized.

The chairman of the Jewish Agency executive then said that once status is granted it is possible that the question of including non-Zionist organizations within the Agency may arise. While it would be premature to “take a fixed position with regard to this possibility, the problem may become a real and serious one and the Zionist movement must be prepared to deal with it openmindedly and with a readiness to encourage all Jewish groups which seek to help in the upbuilding of Israel to do their share,” he declared.

Mrs. Samuel W. Halprin, who is completing a four-year term as national president, reviewed the program of Hadassah, stressing its role in helping Israel secure its future. She said the American Jewish community “is showing a highly developed sense of responsibility as it proceeds with unabated energy to help the young democratic state of Israel stabilize its economy through the raising of the gift dollar and the stimulation of the investment dollar.”

Discussing Arab-Israel relations, Mrs. Halprin said that “peace in the Middle East could come only when the Arab states retreated from their intransigence and showed a willingness to sit down around the table with Israel and genuinely settle the outstanding problems. Making political capital out of such issues as the Arab refugees is not a step in this direction. Israel has consistently shown good will. It behooves the Arabs to follow suit.”