Dr. Emanuel Neumann, chairman of the Jewish Agency-American Section, today issued a statement here in response to requests for comment on the recent investigation and public hearing into Jewish Agency-American Section affairs, conducted by the Senate Foreign Relations Committee, headed by Sen. J.W. Fulbright. The hearing took place in Washington during Dr. Neumann’s absence, while he was visiting Israel. Dr. Neumann stated:
“In the first place, it should be clear that the Jewish Agency was called upon to testify, along with many other organizations and individuals who are registered with the Department of Justice, because they represent foreign principals. The purpose of such hearings, as stated officially, was to help the Senate Committee on Foreign Relations to decide whether the operation of the law adopted in 1938 is satisfactory, or whether any amendments should be recommended.
“Sen. Fulbright has been obviously within his rights in conducting an inquiry into the operations of the Jewish Agency and other pro-Israel organizations, though I do not profess to know the precise reasons that have prompted this intensive study of our affairs.
“Nor can I assess the boasts of certain notoriously hostile elements claiming credit for directing the attention of official agencies to ‘the Zionist conspiracy’–part of their repeated attempts to denigrate and discourage pro-Israel efforts in the United States. These pathetic attempts are most certainly doomed to failure. Our movement has encountered more formidable adversaries in the past and emerged triumphant.
“Any official inquiry can easily be sensationalized in headlines. What is most important, however, is the fact that a prolonged and meticulous examination has turned up absolutely nothing damaging to the status of the Jewish Agency. On the contrary, it has served to explode some malicious myths and to dispose of misrepresentation propagated by fanatical opponents.
PROBE DOCUMENTED POSITIVE ACHIEVEMENTS; FURTHER EFFORTS PLEDGED
The hearings have also documented the historic role which the Jewish Agency and other pro-Israel organizations have played in the rescue of Jewish refugees, to the development of Israel and support for her legitimate rights and interests. Sen. Fulbright himself took occasion to compliment the Jewish Agency on its great achievements and to state repeatedly that there was ‘no wrong doing’–nothing either illegal or improper in its activities.
“The only issue that developed concerns a technical question: Whether reports filed by the Jewish Agency periodically, in accordance with legal requirements, were in every instance sufficiently detailed. We have every reason to be proud of the record. It is a vindication of our program.
“We are quite confident that the devoted friends of Israel in this country, Christians and Jews, Zionists and non-Zionists alike, will not be deterred from continuing to give their moral and material support to a cause dear to their hearts and sanctioned by the overwhelming majority of the American people.
“Speaking for the American Section of the Jewish Agency, and American Zionist groups whose close cooperation we have always enjoyed, I have this to add: Consistent with our devotion to the national interest, we will pursue our efforts on behalf of Zionism and the State of Israel as vigorously and effectively in the future as in the past. We will continue to do so by all proper and legitimate means available to free men in a free society, and in full compliance with all legal and technical requirements. “
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