Concerned Jewish leaders from more than 30 countries will conduct an in depth examination of the most critical issues affecting Israel and world Jewry in response to recent developments in the United States, the Middle East and the Soviet Union at an International Leadership Conference in Miami Beach Oct. 24-28.
Ivan Novick, president of the Zionist Organization of America, which is jointly sponsoring the conference at the Doral Hotel with the Latin American Confederation of General Zionists and the Zionist Organization of Canada, said the meeting was called “because of the realization that the Jewish position in the world, including that of Israel, is under attack and we must face the implications and prepare for the challenges of the ’80s.”
The ZOA leader said there are “parallels between today’s situation and the one Jews faced in the 1930s, when public opinion and allied governments were blind and deaf to the dangers threatening European Jewry and world peace. Public opinion blithely accepted the betrayal of Czechoslovakia on the pretext that it would secure the peace.
“Today we see a repetition of this in the rise of Yasir Arafat’s popularity in the world, the pressure on Israel to recognize and placate the PLO terrorists by retreating to a weak strategic position endangering Israel’s very existence.”
ISSUES AND SPEAKERS
Issues to be discussed at the conference will include the nature of the Islamic movement, the world-wide energy crisis, the challenge of terrorism, the Palestinians and the PLO, the problems of Soviet Jewish emigration, the impact of petrodollars on the American political process and Israel’s peace-time economic prospects.
Among the speakers scheduled to address the conference will be Israel Finance Minister Simcha Ehrlich; Leon Dulzin, chairman of the Jewish Agency and World Zionist Organization Executives; Gen. Alexander Haig, former White House Chief of Staff and former Supreme Commander of NATO; Israel’s Ambassador to the U.S. Ephraim Evron; Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations Yehuda Blum; Senators Daniel Moynihan (D.NY) and Joseph Biden (D.Del.).
Other speakers scheduled will include Theodore Mann, chairman of the Conference of Presidents of Major American Jewish Organizations; Rabbi Joseph Sternstein, president of the American Zionist Federation; Jacques Torczyner, president of the World Union of General Zionists; Novick; and representatives from Canada, Uruguay, Peru, Venezuela, Mexico, Brazil and Colombia. Gordon Zacks of Columbus, Ohio, national vice chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, will chair the conference.
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