Jewish Leaders Issue Statements Hailing Admission of Israel to U.N. Membership

Jewish leaders and organizations today issued statements hailing the decision by the United Nations General Assembly to admit Israel to full-fledged membership.

Dr. Emanuel Neumann, president of the Zionist Organization of America, said that the U.N.’s action “is a glorious consummation of more than half a century of Zionist effort and 2,000 years of struggle for national survival and rebirth”. Israel has nobly merited the place it has now won. Her admission to the United Nations is as important to the international community as it is to Israel,” he said.

In Philadelphia, Dr. Abba Hillel Silver, chairman of the American Zionist Emergency Council, predicted that the establishment of a “democratic government in the Near East will be a boon to the U.N. Increasingly, it is becoming clear that internationalization of Jerusalem would be hard to implement,” he stated, adding that “the Holy Places of the Old City would be protected by allowing the new city of Jerusalem to be incorporated in the state of Israel.”

Henry Morgenthau Jr., general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, asserted that the “hopes of mankind for the establishment of friendly relations among all nations have been greatly advanced-through the admission of Israel to the United Nations.” He said he was confident the new state’s voice “would be heard clear and sharp in support of Justice and the protection of human rights in all parts of the world.”

Jacob Blaueteln, president of the American Jewish Committee, in a telegram to Secretary of State Dean Acheson said that the Committee was “proud of the support members by our own country which culminated in admission of Israel to the United Nations. The U.S. was the first country to recognize the new state,” the message emphasized. “We are confident that as a full-fledged member of the world family of nations, Israel will contribute to world peace and security and will be a great force for democracy in the Middle East.”

Dr. David W. Petegorsky, executive director of the American Jewish Congress, expressed the view that “through this act of admission, the U.N. has carried to its logical conclusion its own recommendations and decisions and thus far strengthened the status and prestige of the world organization. No state in the world has a greater interest than Israel in the establishment of enduring peace, and no people has a lengthier tradition of Justice than the Jowish people with its heritage of the prophetic teachings.”

The National Council of Jowish Women, in a statement signed by Mrs. Joseph welt, president, termed Israel’s admission to U.N. membership “an important contribution to peace in the Middle East.” Messages of felicitation were dispatched to President Weizmann of Israel and U.N. Secretary-General Trygve Lie by the Council.