Young Zionists involved in aliya activities in the United States are protesting what they claim are sharp budget cuts by the World Zionist Organization in Israel for their programs. The young Zionists contend that these cuts directly affect the activities of their youth movements and the future of aliya.
They made this point by holding a demonstration Monday in the lobby of the Jewish Agency/WZO – American Section headquarters here. About 25 youths representing Hashomer Hatzair, Habonim-Dror, Netzer (Reform Zionist Youth), Hashachar (Young Judea), Massada, B’nai Akiva and Betar participated in the demonstration.
According to Mark Raider, secretary-general of Habonim-Dror, who was one of the organizers of the protest, “During the past year, the youth movements have absorbed budget cuts of up to 40 percent,” He said that as a result of the cuts, “The Va’adah L’idud Garinei Aliya (committee to sponsor settlement groups going on aliya) was eradicated.”
Raider said that as a result of the austerity measures, the youth movements also face “direct competition for their leadership training programs from a WZO-funded year program for youth in Israel.”
He charged that the budget reductions “instituted without the previous knowledge of the movements involved, took effect retroactively, leaving the groups without funding promised to them and already allocated. Without this money, the movements cannot run educational seminars and other activities for youth, or subsidize summer camps to make them affordable for all Jewish children.”
Continuing, Raider said: “If the WZO cannot support the Zionist movements that have been the vanguard of aliya since before the State’s establishment, then it has lost its legitimacy as an institution.” He said that the annual budget normally allocated to the youth movements is “negligible,” amounting to about $100,000.
FAVORS RESTORING BUDGET
Bernice Tannenbaum, chairperson of the WZO-American Section, who was asked by the Jewish Telegraphic Agency to respond to the charges, said that she is for restoring the original budget for the Zionist youth movements.
She said she has cabled Leon Dulzin, chairperson of the WZO Executive, to draw his attention to the fact that “the state of the Zionist youth movements is precarious.” She said she told Dulzin that the budget cuts “put in jeopardy the viability of the youth movements” and that, therefore, their budget must be restored “immediately.”
Tannenbaum added: “The American Section of the WZO is deeply concerned because it regards our Zionist youth movements and their programs for aliya, the highest form of Zionist activity.”
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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.
