Israel’s Acting Premier, Moshe Sharett, today contrasted the situation of the 2,500,000 Jews in the Communist lands of Eastern Europe with that of the millions of Jews in the Western democracies, in an address to a rally of Jewish students from abroad who were about to return to their homelands after a period of work, schooling and other training in Israel.
He spoke of the Jews in the Communist lands as “tragically isolated behind the Iron Curtain” and cut off from all contact with Jews in other lands. He said it was fortunate that two-thirds of the world’s Jews lived in the “free democracies” and could maintain bonds with Israel. He also envisaged a “worldwide fraternity of Jews” abroad united by and centered on Israel. He told the 600 students at the rally that while Israel needed them, they needed the Jewish State more.
Eliahu Dobkin, Jewish Agency member, who organized the summer program, said that it had reached a peak this summer with 1,120 students from abroad participating. In reply to the Acting Premier and Mr. Dobkin, students from Morocco, Denmark, Argentine, Italy, United States and many other countries came to the platform to describe their work and study in the Jewish State. The rally closed with memorial services at the tomb of Theodor Herzl.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
