A resolution opposing direct negotiations with Germany on Jewish claims for reparations was rejected here today at a meeting of the National Zionist Administrative Council, ruling body of the Zionist Organization of America between annual conventions. The Council decided to hold the Z.O.A.’s 55th annual convention in New York from June 13-15.
Members of the Council from all parts of the country heard Benjamin G. Browdy. Z.O.A. president, praising Israel’s new economic policy, which was announced last week by Premier David Ben Gurion in the Knesset. Declaring that the new Israel policy is calculated to hasten the flow of foreign currency to the Jewish State, Mr. Browdy voiced confidence that the additional incentives afforded investors by Israel’s currency reforms will cause a greater influx of American capital investment.
Abraham Redelheim, chairman of the Council, reviewed the progress recorded by the Z.O.A. during the year and struck out at critics of the Z.O.A. administration. He said that Premier Ben Gurion’s “bankruptcy” charge against American Zionist leadership had “aroused dismay and bewilderment even among tried and true Zionist.” “Ben Gurion and his colleagues must be reminded again of the fundamental difference between Zionists and friends of Israel, ” he declared.
The Council endorsed Z.O.A. plans for immediate establishment in Israel of 10 trade schools, an American business college, and the sending to Israel of 200 technicians under the Z.O.A. program of technical aid to the Jewish State. Dr. Sidney Marks. executive director of the organization, announced the completion of arrangements for setting up of the projected schools and college.
Dr. Joseph Tenenbaum, chairman of the Z.O.A. ‘s committee carrying out the Z.O.A. program of “democratizing the American Jewish community,” told the Council session that the “Jewish community in America stands at the crossroads of a period of peril as well as of opportunity and it is incumbent upon the Zionist forces which for the last 50 years have revolutionized Jewish life” to give it a purpose and a dignity.
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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.