A severe attack on Zionist leaders in the United States seeking to strengthen the General Zionist Party in Israel was made at a press conference here today by Rudolf Sonneborn, chairman of the United Palestine Appeal, who is now visiting the Jewish state.
Expressing the hope that the forthcoming World Zionist Congress will carefully praise the role of Israel on one hand and the Zionist movement on the other, Mr. Sonneborn criticized “the group of individuals who have almost completely divorced themselves from daily practical work for Israel in the United States and have time or constant maneuvering to associate the Zionist Organization of America with the general Zionists in Israel.”
American Jews, Mr. Sonneborn said, resent any effort by any group in the United States to influence the outcome of political elections in Israel, as well as he recent efforts on the part of individuals or groups in Israel to entangle American groups in political controversies in Israel.
Mr. Sonneborn expressed the opinion that any attempt made by Israel to cede by of its sovereignty to the world Zionist movement, will only embitter relations with American Jewry. The Zionist movement, he declared, can gain strength from within itself. “Those who criticize Israel for the weakness of the Zionist movement are merely diverting attention from their own inadequacies, “he stated. He highly raised the results of Premier David Ben Gurion’s visit to the United States.
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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.
