The presidents of major Jewish organizations in the United States were called upon “to convene a world Jewish convention in Jerusalem within 30 days to mobilize support for Israel in the coming fateful period.” The appeal was initiated by B’rith Sholom’s national administrative committee, meeting here, on recommendation by the pro-Israel fraternal organization’s national president, David Young. Young said, “such a major and momentous undertaking is imperative to help shape the course of events, now being played out on the Middle East stage, that will decide not only Israel’s fate but also the fate of the Jewish people for countless time.”
Young underscored the urgent nature of the conference by suggesting that “not only organization representatives and community leaders be invited but also the best Jewish minds in all spheres of national life who are committed to Israel’s survival.”
Terming the conference, “the Jewish people’s answer to the recent summit conference of Moslem nation in Pakistan,” Young said that the “conference would represent for Israel’s welfare the same landmark in Jewish history as the conference on behalf of Soviet Jews held in Brussels in 1971. The conference,” he said, “would demonstrate the Jewish people’s solidarity with Israel and constitute an expression of awareness that the fate of the Jewish people and Israel are mutually linked.”
Albert Liss, B’rith Sholom’s national executive director, warned that “the initial steps taken in the disengagement of the military forces in the Middle East should not blind the Jewish community to the new explicit factors which serve as formidable obstacles to Israel’s interests–such as the oil crisis, changes in national alignments, the obsession of the Nixon Administration with so-called detente and the new military equation in the Middle East which give the Arab nations astronomical preponderance of military power.”
Liss said that “the Jewish community must be on guard to see that Israel’s legitimate rights and interests as a sovereign power are not sacrificed to the immediate economic and geopolitical goals and prejudices of the Big Powers and their subordinate nation-states.” Liss acknowledged, “the worthy efforts made today by the Jewish community as important and material.” He counseled, however, that “quiet diplomatic efforts can have maximum impact only when they are backed by the popular will in a visible and dramatic show of strength.”
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.
