Delegates to the Third Plenary Assembly of the World Jewish Congress today adopted resolutions sharply condemning the arrest of Zionist leaders in Hungary and Rumania, opposing the arming of the Arab states and urging worldwide adoption of the Geneva convention for the protection of civilians during wartime, which offers effective protection to Jews against atrocities.
The conference criticized the treatment of Jews in the Soviet Union and other Communist countries and demanded that Jews in those states be permitted to organize their own communal life and maintain their own institutions, as well as have the right to immigrate to Israel and to maintain relations with the Jews of other countries.
In a resolution stressing support of Israel, the delegates pointed out that it has frequently offered to enter “into free and friendly” peace negotiations with the Arabs. The supplying of arms to the Arabs only confirms them in their intransigeance toward making peace, the WJC said. In addition, the conference pointed out that Jerusalem is not only Israel’s capital but is the “eternal city” of the Jewish people.
The assembly unanimously adopted a resolution calling on those member states of the United Nations “who have failed or refused to ratify the genocide convention to reconsider a policy by which they exclude themselves from an international effort to stigmatize and prevent what is at once a monstrous crime against humanity and, so long as it is not outlawed, a menace to the peace and stability of the world.” In a series of other resolutions, the delegates took positions in support of efforts to extend and maintain human rights, assist refugees and in support of efforts to relieve international tension.
In the cultural field, the delegates said that the WJC would cooperate with the World Sephardic Federation in its cultural and educational activities. They also resolved that the “World Jewish Congress Cultural Department should continue its
policy of forging the unity of world Jewry in cooperation with the State of Israel and in coordination with Jewish organizations, especially the Jewish Agency.” At the same time, the resolution endorsed the belief that the State of Israel is and will continue to be “the mainspring in stimulating Jewish cultural integration in all parts of the Diaspora.”
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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.
