Unless the leaders of Israel go beyond “a willingness to admit” that the Zionist movement is necessary to a point where they “believe enthusiastically” that it is “indispensable to the future of Israel as well as the Jewish people,” any program evolved by the forthcoming World Zionist Congress is “doomed to frustration and failure,” Dr. Israel Goldstein warned last night.
In a statement issued as he boarded a plane for Israel where he will attend the 23rd World Zionist Congress as an American delegate, the chairman of the World Confederation of General Zionists and member of the Jewish Agency said that American delegates are coming to the Congress with “mixed feelings.” They are proud of the existence and achievements of Israel, he asserted, but at the same time they are uneasy over the current crisis which, he said, endangers the future of the Zionist movement.
He stated that there is much talk of the danger of a cleavage developing between Israel and Jews elsewhere, adding that in this connection the Zionist movement “is the only reliable bridge between Israel and the Jewish people.” He saw a good chance of the Zionist organization emerging strengthened from the forthcoming Congress–the first ever held in Israel–especially if the General Zionists are able to achieve unity in their pre-Congress meeting.
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