Mrs. Charlotte Jacobson, chairman of the American section of the World Zionist Organization, today blasted the thesis behind the Jewish Defense League’s emergency aliya conference–"that America is on the verge of a new holocaust."
In a statement issued here, Mrs. Jacobson said: "We believe that Americans go on aliya because of a true love of Zion and of a desire to live a fuller life as Jews in Israel….Wild talk such as that uttered by the Jewish Defense League, both at its emergency conference, and in ‘ads’ promoting it, cannot be other than harmful, a view, we believe is held by the overwhelming majority of American Jewry."
Noting that aliya from America has grown to about 10,000 annually in recent years, Mrs. Jacob-son said that to state, as the JDL does "that you must run away from the United States because of the fear of anti-Semitism" is "defeatism that is harmful, in the long run, to Israel as well as to American Jewry."
She said American Jewry is playing an important role in the development of the Jewish state. "We do not need, nor desire, the scare tactics and sensationalism of the aliya propaganda of the JDL." Mrs. Jacobson said that through its affiliated Aliya Center, the American section of the WZO "is fully committed to aiding all Americans who wish to settle in Israel."
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