The Zionist Organization of America has withdrawn as a constituent member of the American Zionist Federation, Herman L. Weisman, president of the ZOA announced today. The decision to terminate the ZOA’s association with the Federation and its involvement in Federation activities and affairs was formally adopted in a resolution passed last Sunday by the National Executive Committee, the ZOA’s highest governing body, Weisman said.
It was the “overwhelming consensus” of ZOA leadership from around the country that “the conglomerate approach of the AZF dilutes the idealistic and practical role of Zionism and weakens its force and character on the American scene,” Weisman said. The Federation was formed in May 1970 as a territorial federation of American Zionist organizations. The ZOA has been a member since the AZF’s inception.
The resolution stated that the ZOA decided to withdraw after determining that the AZF is “committed” to conducting “a wide spectrum of Zionist activities” which “compete with, disrupt and supplant” Important ongoing Zionist programs traditionally conducted by the ZOA. Among such programs the ZOA cites public affairs, aliya and community relations. The policies pursued by the AZF, the resolution declared, “are undermining and, in time, will completely eliminate this desirable independence and individuality of existing Zionist organizations, causing irreparable damage to the Zionist movement in America.”
The resolution also notes that the AZF, “after expending substantial sums and great effort” to attract persons previously unaffiliated with the Zionist movement, had enrolled only 79 such members over the past 20 months. This demonstrates that it is a “fallacy” to assume that a Zionist territorial federation would have a greater appeal to unaffiliated American Jews than the existing Zionist organizations, the resolution says.
The ZOA, in the resolution confirmed its readiness to “cooperate with and participate in the coordination of Zionist efforts”–as long as the independence and individuality of its own programs are not prejudiced. The resolution also expresses the ZOA’s intention to “maintain and strengthen” its ties with other Zionist organizations “for the continuation of joint Zionist efforts throughout the United States.”
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