Need for Diaspora Zionist Unity

Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson, chairman of the World Zionist Organization-American Section, said here last night that diaspora Zionists must avoid splitting into party compartments to prevent non-Zionists from taking over “work for Israel and reducing it to fund-raising alone.”

Mrs. Jacobson, who spoke at a dinner in her honor given by the South African United Zionist Association, asserted that “there is no further role for parties in diaspora Zionism.” She said that “we need maximum unity of all Zionists in support of immigration and absorption, which are Zionism’s key responsibilities today.”

She warned a takeover of non-Zionists of work for Israel could be a special danger in the American Jewish community, where firm stands might prove to be necessary against the United States Government over Israel’s security, as she said had happened with British Zionists relative to British governments on many occasions. She suggested also that the World Conference of United Zionists offered a new vehicle for organizing Jews outside of Israel behind the Zionist movement.

Arieh Buston. Israel’s Consul General, expressed a similar view that Zionist parties caused unnecessary tensions in diaspora Zionism where unity behind Israel was the essential requirement. Roman Egert, the outgoing chairman of the UZA, reviewed the work of the Association in bringing leading South African Zionists together under a broad spectrum.