Goldmann Previews World Zionist Congress; Israeli Leaders on Agenda

A broad preview of the forthcoming World Zionist Congress, to be convened at Jerusalem on December 27, was given here today by Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Zionist Organization. The 25th Congress, Dr. Goldmann said, will run until January 10. The Presidential report will open the Congress, to be followed, on the second day of sessions, with an address by Israel’s Prime Minister David Ben-Gurion. General debate will revolve around the general topic of “Zionism in our time.”

In the second part of the general debate, Dr. Goldmann said, Dr. Jov Joseph, treasurer of the Jewish Agency, will report on the concrete accomplishments achieved during Israel’s almost 13 years of statehood, while the Israeli plans for the next four years will be discussed by Israel’s Finance Minister Levi Eshkol.

Concurrently with the World Zionist Congress, Dr. Goldmann said, there will be a meeting of the administrative committee of the World Jewish Congress, an international conference of Jewish journalists, and a meeting of the Conference of Jewish Organizations, which will deal with the future of the conference and on when and where to hold a projected international conclave an Jewish education.

AGENCY-GOVERNMENT COORDINATING GROUP TO MEET MORE REGULARLY

Discussing the development of cooperation between the World Zionist Organization, through the Jewish Agency, with the Government of Israel, Dr. Goldmann said that the Jewish Agency-Israel Government coordinating committee will hereafter meet regularly every two months, instead of on the present ad hoc basis.

It is now also a formal Israel Government policy, he said, that all Israel diplomats are to remain in permanent contact with Zionist organizations of the countries to which they are assigned, and it is incumbent on visiting Israel Government officials to work with local Zionist organizations in contacts with local Jewish communities, to assure maximum benefits to the local community and Zionist movement from their visits.

In discussing the Zionist Congress, Dr. Goldmann said that the Latin American Jewish communities would have 100 percent representation as associate or fraternal participants. Almost all European countries also will be represented, he said, with the exception of Belgium, which has no representative Jewish body, and Holland, where the Zionist Federation is strongly opposed to the whole idea of broadening the base of the World Zionist Organization by admitting non-Zionists.

He reported that the situation was “most difficult” in the United States. He said the American Jewish Congress, the New York Board of Rabbis and the Rabbinical Assembly of America had accepted invitations. Negotiations were continuing with other American non-Zionist groups, he said, adding that reports of acceptance by Young Israel had been premature.