Nessim Gaon, president of the World Sephardi Federation (WSF), reported here last night that as a result of the Federation’s intervention with Israeli Premier Menachem Begin, the Israeli leader gave his “commitment to convene, during the year 1978, a world Jewish conference to deal specifically with the problems of poverty and social inequality in Israel.” Gaon, of Geneva, addressed the opening session of the three-day meeting of the Federation’s Presidium at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel.
Addressing some 150 leaders of Sephardi communities from Israel, Europe, Latin America and the United States, Gaon urged the Israeli government, in the event that the Geneva conference should resume, to include on its negotiating team “diplomats or specialists who have lived in Arab lands and who can serve as a bridge to a more fruitful dialogue among the nations of the Near East.”
STRESSES ROLE OF SEPHARDIM
Citing alarming statistics of what he termed “de-Judaization” in the diaspora, Gaon called for concerted Sephardi efforts to build more Jewish schools, especially in France, and to have Hebrew universally adopted as a second language among all Jews, in addition “to bringing our young people closer to the sacred principles of our Jewish faith.
Gaon also stated: “It is not good for Israel to become a nation like any other. We must intensify our efforts to bolster the State of Israel through contributions, aliya and any measure to counter the prejudice and ostracism that some of our communities have experienced there.”
While praising the improvement of the Sephardi status in Israel since the Begin government came to office, Gaon was sharply critical of the World Zionist Organization, claiming that “it is not normal that we should be represented on the Zionist Executive by only one out of 22 people.” He called for special effort during the forthcoming World Zionist Congress to have Sephardim assigned to key positions in the youth and education departments.
In her introductory remarks, Liliane Levy-Winn, president of the American Sephardi Federation (ASF), emphasized the significance of having this conference in the United States “in order to rally the political and economic power of U.S. Jewry to our cause.” She blamed the Sephardim for being remiss “in allowing the American Jewish community to remain oblivious to the Sephardi role in the rebirth of Israel, to Sephardi needs in Israel and to the fractionalization of the social and economic fabric of the Jewish State.”
WARNS OF POLARIZATION
In a similar vein, Gaon told a luncheon meeting last Thursday of the United Jewish Appeal-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies Joint Campaign of Greater New York that ending the social gap in Israel must not be underestimated. He warned that if the gap is allowed to continue, it will result in a “highly polarized society.”
He stressed to the audience of UJA-Joint Campaign officers and New York Sephardi leaders that “this polarity would constitute a grave threat to Israel’s very existence. We cannot, must not, sit back and allow the problem to grow.” Gaon said some 500,000 people in Israel are living in substandard conditions. “These people are underprivileged socially, economically and educationally,” he said.
Gaon said that Begin has promised to eliminate this problem and his government has pledged $600 million towards that end if diaspora Jewry raises an equal amount. He urged the UJA to follow the example of Keren Hayesod which recently pledged to double its contribution during the next two or three years.
His appeal was reinforced by Robert H. Arnow, chairman of the Joint Campaign and chairman of the board of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency, who pledged that the UJA will double its efforts and “not tire of this most important activity.”
The WSF Presidium meeting will be highlighted by a dinner tonight at which some 600 leaders of the American Jewish community are expected to attend. The dinner, which is being co-sponsored by the ASF and the American Associates of Ben Gurion University, will be addressed by Yosef Tekoah, university president and former Israeli Ambassador to the United Nations. Gaon is chairman of the university’s Board of Governors and a member of the board of the JTA.
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
