Plans to form a new organization, an integral part of the World Zionist Organization, but without affiliation or identification with any political party in Israel, were announced here today by Judge Louis E. Levinthal of Philadelphia.
A statement of policy released today announces a national convention, to be held in March. Judge Levinthal, veteran Zionist leader and member of the Zionist Actions Committee, is serving as provisional committee chairman of the new group. The committee is operating under the name of the Independent Zionists of America.
The new groups policy statement extolls American Zionists who made “important contributions to the rounding of modern Israel,” and pays tribute to “countless American Jews unaffiliated with any Zionist group” who have “given generous support to the Zionist ideal and the State of Israel.”
The statement also refers to the decision of the World Zionist Organization’s recent Jerusalem congress “to enlist the support of all friends of Israel by providing for the integration of non-party Zionist groups in the Zionist movement.”
Citing the present “crucial period of history–when Israel is faced with political, military and economic dangers,” Judge Levinthal declared: “There is now an urgent need for a liberal democratic organization representing the largest possible cross section of American Jewry, primarily concerned with the welfare of the Jewish State as a whole and not with any particular political or economic group in Israel.”
Judge Levinthal said that the organization expects to attract “American Jews who are demonstrating their friendship for Asrael by their continued economic support, but who do not have a voice in the affairs of the Zionist movement –Jews who cannot participate in its equally important political, and educational work because they are not enrolled–and do not want to be enrolled — in a partisan organization. Judge Levinthal also announced that several hundred community leaders from many parts of the country are serving as sponsors of the founding convention.
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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.
