Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the Jewish Agency executive, said here last night that he is “not convinced” that the United States attitude on permitting Israel to purchase arms will continue to be negative. He spoke at the 33rd national convention of the Zionist Organization of Canada, which is being held here.
Statements by President Eisenhower and Secretary of State Dulles “have been far from satisfactory,” Dr. Goldmann asserted. However, he noted that not only American Jews, but millions of non-Jewish Americans, including trade unionists and members of both Houses of Congress, were “clamoring” for American aid to Israel. He said that sooner or later, the United States would have to “grant a certain measure of defensive arms to Israel.”
The Jewish Agency chairman underlined that in the five months since the Egyptian-Czech arms deal was signed, the Arab country has already received the entire stock of arms contracted for. He called this a “speed unequalled except in warfare” and said that it had established Egyptian air superiority over Israel.
Declaring that the “Russian Empire has fulfilled an age old ambition–Czarist and Communist–of penetrating the Middle East, Dr. Goldmann reported: “Mr. Dulles has told me that this entry may prove a greater disaster for the West than the Communization of China with its six hundred million people.” Dr. Goldmann noted that the Arab states had vast areas in which they could resettle the refugees from Palestine instead of “pushing them back into crowded Israel.”
He pointed out that the stronger the Arab world became the more incitement there was from Arab extremists for “adventures” against Israel. But even if the present tension should ease, Dr. Goldman warned, there will be renewed pressure on Israel, perhaps to cede territory to pacify the Arabs. Both Israel and world Jewry must be prepared for years of political crisis and resistance to such pressure which would “undermine Israel as a sovereign, viable state.”
Dr. Goldmann reminded the Zionist convention that despite action by others, Israel depended primarily on the support of its only “real ally,” the Jewish people. “Tens of millions of dollars are needed to buy arms and not just from America” The United States, he continued, is not the only producer of arms and “Israel has to have the arms wherever it can get them.” He reviewed the financial burdens with which Israel still needs a helping hand, including the resettlement of thousands of immigrants from North Africa.
In a unanimous vote, the nearly 400 delegates at the convention approved a resolution today calling on the Canadian Government to facilitate the sale and shipment of arms to Israel and expressing grave concern over recent Canadian policy which might hinder arms shipments to Israel. Major speakers at the convention included also Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, executive vice-chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, and D. Lou Harris, national chairman of the State of Israel Bond Organization in Canada.
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.
