Neumann Warns Against Yielding to Pressure to Compromise on Security

Dr. Emanuel Neumann, member of the Jewish Agency Executive and honorary president of the Zionist Organization of America, told a 70th anniversary celebration of the First World Zionist Congress here tonight that it would be folly “and possibly suicidal” for Israel to yield to “mounting behind-the-scenes” pressures to modify its position toward the Arab states. He told the meeting, held under the auspices of the American Zionist Council, that although Israel had won the war last June, “a renewed effort is being made at the United Nations to force the withdrawal of Israel’s forces without guarantees of her peace and security. Should the United Nations reverse itself, and give majority support to the demands of the Soviet-Arab bloc. Israel would have no alternative but to reject such demands. For Israel, this is not a political game, but life or death.”

Rabbi Israel Miller, chairman of the Council, told the gathering that the achievements of the Zionist movement, since the first Congress in 1897, “vindicates the basic ideas of the early pioneers of the movement who, along with Theodor Herzl, gathered in Basle to seek a solution to the problem of Jewish homelessness.” He said that the Zionist movement now was “making great strides in gaining acceptance among Jews for the concepts of the centrality of Israel in the lives of Jews everywhere, and for the unity of the Jewish people.”