Mrs. Golda Meir, Israel’s Foreign Minister, today told the 1,000 delegates and guests attending the closing session of the annual convention of the Zionist Organization of America, here, that she was certain Israel does not have a greater and more sincere friend than the United States Government and people. “
She made that statement in reply to questions from the floor after she and Prime Minister Levi Eshkol addressed the convention. At the same time she conceded that the State Department in Washington and Israel “agree that they disagree on American policy in the Middle East,” and she told the American Zionists that there are certain differences and problems between Israel and the U.S.A. “that should be ironed out between the two countries.”
Israel’s position in regard to increased arms given to Arabs through Russian aid, she said, would be decided in the future “not by what the Arabs do, but what the Jewish nation — Israel first and the whole nation together — do.” Israel’s policy, she added, is “not to let Nasser arrive at the day when he would think he is strong enough to defeat Israel.”
She said that in spite of Israel’s “keen desire,” Russia does not want improvement of Israeli-USSR relations. She pointed out that there are no trade relations “whatsoever” between Israel and the USSR.
Mr. Eshkol told the convention that “if things continue as they have been, we may, by the end of the 60’s reach the completion of the ingathering of those Jews from certain countries who cannot live freely as Jews — and this does not include our brethren in Russia.” By the end of the decade, he said, Israel’s population will reach 3,000,000. The population increase will result from new immigration as well as from local births.
“The Zionist responsibility,” he declared, “did not end with the State’s establishment, nor will it end when we succeed in concentrating 3, 000, 000 Jews here. It is our joint responsibility to enlarge Israel’s population and enrich our cultural and spiritual life by a strong stream of immigrants from Western countries. These are the people who can help us increase our numbers, build our economic life and lead to a better level in cultural, intellectual and spiritual life and society in our country, “
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