The method of electing the Zionist half of the membership of the Council of the Jewish Agency was determined by the Zionist Congress which adopted a resolution that the members of the Zionist General Council, by reason of their election to that body, become the Zionist representatives on the Council of the Jewish Agency.
Of the 110 delegates to which the Zionist Organization is entitled, 104 will be the 52 members of the Zionist General Council and their 52 alternates. The rest is to be made up of the officers of the Zionist Organization. Two hundred and eight alternates will be chosen in addition.
These decisions were adopted by the Zionist Congress at its Thursday afternoon session.
The Zionist General Council was authorized to choose the 20 Zionist members of the Administrative Committee of the Jewish Agency which will be composed of 40 members.
The Congress also adopted a resolution that its sessions are always to be held prior to the date when the Jewish Agency Council is to meet once in two years. Similarly, the Zionist General Council is to hold its sessions before the Administrative Committee of the Jewish Agency meets.
In sending the membership of the Zionist General Council to the Jewish Agency Council as the Zionist Organization’s representatives, the Congress, on the recommendation of the Committee on Committees, prevented a controversy between the parties as the question arose how the Zionist representation on the Agency is to be apportioned, according to parties or according to the territorial Zionist federations. The question also arose as to whether a special election body is to be created for designating the Zionist representatives.
At the evening session the question of binding the Zionist representatives on the Jewish Agency Council to an instructed vote on fundamental Zionist problems was also settled.
The Zionist Revisionists introduced a motion to the effect that all Zionist delegates to the Jewish Agency Council be bound a priori to the decisions of the Zionist Congress and the Zionist General Council. This instruction, according to the motion, is to be applicable also to the Zionist members of the Jewish Agency Administrative Committee. After a prolonged debate and difficult struggle which lasted until late in the evening, the Congress rejected the Revisionist motion by a majority vote. (Continued on Page 3)
Instead, the Congress adopted the resolution proposed by the Committee on Committees. According to this resolution a two-thirds majority in the Zionist Congress has the right at any time to bind the Zionist representatives on both organs of the Jewish Agency to an instructed vote. The Congress, however, has also the right to transfer its authority on this matter to the Zionist half of the Jewish Agency Council, as well as of the Jewish Agency Administrative Committee, which may likewise determine by a two-thirds majority to vote as a body. On the other hand, the Zionist halves of the Jewish Agency Council and the Jewish Agency Administrative Committee may by a two-thirds majority lift the obligation for an instructed vote. These rules were adopted to be in force until the next plenary session of the Zionist Congress.
The Congress also adopted an amendment to this resolution, sponsored by the Laborites, which imposes the obligation of a united vote on the Zionist representatives to the Agency on “fundamental Zionist questions.” To determine whether or not a debated question is “fundamental,” the following procedure was provided for: in case ten Zionist members of the Council or two Zionist members of the Administrative Committee are in doubt as to whether or not the question is a “fundamental Zionist” one, the matter may be decided by a two-thirds majority vote of the Zionist membership. This amendment was adopted by a majority of 108 to 100, but later the General Zionists and the Laborites agreed on the motion, when the Revisionists demanded a roll call,
CHONE ORDERED OUT OF HALL, REPORTED TO HAVE SLAPPED DE HASS
At this juncture a disturbance was caused in the assembly by shouts that “Chone insulted De Haas.” It had reference to that familiar figure at every large American Zionist gathering known to American Zionists as “Chone,” who could not be absent from Zurich when the Zionist Congress was in session here. Jacob de Haas, former executive secretary of the Zionist Organization of America and one of the leading spirits of the American Zionist opposition group, is attending the Congress as an alternated for Harry Friedenwald, elected on the opposition ticket of the Herzl Zionists.
It was reported that Chone, who has always been a volunteer champion of the administration causes, had raised his hand against Mr. de Haas. When the details reached the praesidium, the chairman, Dr. Motzkin, ordered Chone from the hall and instructed the ushers not to admit him again.
Max Straus, former president of the Baltic American Line, died in New York at the age of 64, For fifty years in the transportation business, Mr. Straus remained president of the steamship line until three years ago.
He was for twenty-five years American representative of the Scandinavian-American Line.
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.
