ZOA Re-elects Torczyner to Presidency, Calls on Us to Aid Israel with Arms

Resolutions calling on the United States to provide Israel with the weapons needed for its defense and calling on United Nations Secretary-General U Thant and the United States Government for action to secure the release of the Israeli passengers of the hijacked TWA plane still held captive by Syria were adopted today at the closing sessions of the 72nd national convention of the Zionist Organization of America.

If Mr. Thant fails to succeed in this, the resolution stated, the United Nations “must ratify any measures taken by Israel for the upholding of international law.” The resolution called for immediate and forceful response by the United States “to the act of Arab piracy committed against an American airliner and its passengers.”

Another resolution, dealing with the continued difficulties along the cease-fire lines, “condemned the voluntary blindness of the UN to the willful violations of the cease-fire by the Arab states and the partisanship of the resolutions passed by a biased Security Council.”

The convention re-elected Jacques Torczyner of New York president by acclamation after first amending the constitution to permit him to serve another term and after Rabbi Max I. Kirschblum withdrew as a candidate.

The convention also decided on a large-scale program to combat Arab propaganda on the college campus’ by a program of information for students and faculty on developments in the Middle East.

It recommended establishment of a Kiryat ZOA near a major Israeli city to provide homes and commercial premises for immigrants and temporary visitors from America. The convention expressed full support of aliyah for people of all ages but stressed that maximum encouragement must be given to the immigration of young American Jews. In this connection, it decided, development of accommodations at the Mollie Goodman Academic High School in Israel “be accelerated for maximum development of its capacity.”

In his acceptance speech, Mr. Torczyner welcomed the fact that the organization was united despite the contest that had taken place over its leadership and stressed the need for the Zionist movement at this critical time.

Earlier, Sen. Harrison A. Williams Jr., of New Jersey, told the convention that “United States efforts in the Middle East must be centered on one basic premise – Israel’s right to life as a state. The other issues.” he said, “important as they are, can be solved. Perhaps they can even be negotiated. But life itself, the continued integrity of the State of Israel, must be non-negotiable.”

In its resolution on arms for Israel, the convention expressed the hope that “American statesmanship, recognizing the importance of the sovereign state of Israel for the Western World, will not permit the Soviet Union and its client states to endanger the stability and the future of the Middle East.”

NIXON MESSAGE SAYS HIGH PRIORITY BEING GIVEN TO PEACE IN MIDEAST

President Nixon, in a message read to the convention, stressed that his Administration accorded a high priority to permanent peace in the Middle East and declared that the United States was firmly committed to maintaining “friendly relations with the people of Israel and, indeed, with all the peoples of the Middle East.” The President praised the ZOA for strengthening Israel’s social and economic foundations and the cultural ties between “its people and their friends in America,” tasks which he described as “in the highest American tradition.”

Before his election, Mr. Nixon in statements to B’nai B’rith and to the ZOA, had declared his conviction that Israel required a “technological military margin” to offset Arab numerical superiority.

Mrs. Rita Hauser, U.S. representative on the United Nations Human Rights Commission, warned Israel and its friends to counter Arab propaganda depicting the Jewish State as an oppressive occupying power. She warned that the Arab line “is becoming increasingly credible among churchmen and student radicals.” She said that Israel should permit the UN commission “or other impartial observer” to enter the occupied territories to show the world how the Arabs are being treated.