The Histadrut Council, at its 30th national meeting here adopted today a resolution placing Israel’s labor movement squarely behind the government’s recent foreign policy and Sinai operation.
The resolution, which was presented to the convention by Meir Argov, chairman of the Knesset Foreign Affairs and Security Committee, said that the Sinai campaign had foiled Egyptian plans to attack Israel and had been undertaken to break through the Egyptian blockade of the Suez Canal. It called the action “self-defense” and necessary to “preserve the state and its citizens.”
The delegates to the labor sessions regretted the failure of both the East and West to halt the flow of arms into the Middle East and scored the Soviet Union for giving arms to Egypt’s totalitarian regime and for its hostility to Israel. It warned the United Nations and the Great Powers that they had failed to understand the consequences of these actions and continued appeasement policies which endanger Israel.
The conference called on labor movements throughout the world to rally to Israel’s support with moral and political aid and urged the Jewish nation and the Zionist movement to help Israel with moral and economic assistance. It urged the Asian nations to regard Israel as a nation entitled to equal rights.
A minor riot was set off when Communist deputy Meir Wilner attempted to introduce a resolution urging the immediate withdrawal of all Israel forces from all occupied territory. It was an hour before the chair could restore order and quiet the shouting and singing of Hatikvah, which was designed to prevent Wilner’s continuing his remarks.
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