Mizrachi Labor Convention Appeals for U.S. Aid to Israel

Resolutions calling upon the United States Congress to continue American aid to Israel and the Middle East and not to allow the shipment of American arms to Arab countries were adopted at the concluding session here today of the four-day annual convention of the Hapoel Hamizrachi of America, a religious labor Zionist group. More than 500 delegates attended the convention.

Other resolutions emphasized the right of American citizens to express their opinions with regard to the conduct of foreign policy and denounced the anti-Zionist stand of the American Council for Judaism. The convention also, adopted a resolution calling upon all religious organizations in the United States and Israel to cooperate in the advancement of religious education in the two countries. It reaffirmed its support of the Chief Rabbinate as the supreme religious authority in Israel.

The delegates expressed their “profound shock at the mass arrests of Jewish leaders in Rumania and called on all people throughout the world” to join in a protest against these arrests and to demand the immediate released of the Jews. A special session was devoted to mass prayer on behalf of the imprisoned Jews.

President Eisenhower, in a message to the convention, commended the Hapoel Hamizrachi “for its active achievement of the religious traditions of the Jewish faith and the social traditions of democracy. Israel’s president, Itzhak Ben Zvi, lauded the “proud record of activity and support for Israel” by the Hapoel Hamizrachi.

A plea to the United States to demonstrate that its Middle East policy continues to be one of striving for peace was made by the president of the organization, Rabbi Issachar Levin. The only way to strengthen that region, he said, “is not through military aid, but rather through economic assistance to meet the urgent needs of the people.” What these people need, he said, “were ploughshares, rather than swords.”