Two Zionist Groups Rap Azf Decision to Mail Ballots Without Platforms

Two Zionist organizations, on opposite ends of the ideological spectrum, today labeled as “undemocratic” and “ludicrous” the decision to go ahead with plans to mail out an informational booklet on the election for the 152 American delegates to the 29th World Zionist Congress without any campaign material from the eight competing slates.

Both the Americans for Progressive Israel (API) and the United Zionists-Revisionists of America said they are appealing to the American Zionist Federation’s Tribunal the decision by the AZF’s election committee not to include the party platforms despite a ruling by the central election committee in Jerusalem that they do so. The decision was made last week by the AZF election committee with only the API and the Revisionists dissenting.

Moshe Kagan, associate director of the AZF Executive who heads the U.S. election committee, said the ballots and booklets were mailed out yesterday by the American Arbitration Association to the more than 900,000 registered Zionists in the U.S. He said the informational booklets only list the individual candidates on each slate.

MOVE CALLED UNDEMOCRATIC

Robert Brown, a spokesman for the Revisionist, said the decision was “ludicrous” and a “fraud on the voters” since they will not know what each party stands for. He noted that when the Revisionists asked for a list of all the voters they were denied it on the grounds that it was unnecessary since all voters would receive every party’s platform in the informational booklet. Brown said the latest election committee’s decision was a means by which the large Zionist organizations hoped to keep the smaller groups from getting votes.

Linda Rubin, the API’s executive director, called the move “undemocratic,” stressing that the voter will not have the material needed to make an educated choice.

The API had asked the Jerusalem body to make a decision after the AZF election committee had originally decided late last month to eliminate the party platforms following a dispute between the Revisionists and the Zionist Organization of America. The Revisionists had gone into a New York court to get the ZOA to remove pictures of Israeli Premier Menachem Begin and Defense Minister Ezer Weizman from its election material.

The Revisionist withdrew their suit after the Jerusalem committee ruled that the party platforms should be included in the informational bulletin but without pictures. The AZF election committee majority said the Jerusalem group had no authority over the American election.

The Jerusalem committee had been willing to give the U.S. group an extra two weeks to get the informational material in the books. Kagan, earlier this month, had expressed concern that the ballots should not be delayed in the Christmas mail rush. Voters must return the ballots to the American Arbitration Association which is supervising the balloting by Jan. 3. The Zionist Congress will start Feb. 20 in Jerusalem.