Dr. Nahum Goldmann, president of the World Jewish Congress, said here Saturday night that the future of Israel and of diaspora Jewry depended on the achievement of complete solidarity and mutual respect between those two branches of the Jewish people. Delivering the keynote address at a gathering sponsored by the Basle Zionist Society to mark the 75th anniversary of the founding of the World Zionist Movement in this city in 1897. Dr. Goldmann said that “what still needs to be done may take even longer than the 75 years of Zionist history.”
The gathering was the last of a series of events held here during the year in connection with the 75th anniversary of the first World Zionist Congress. “The Jewish people and the Zionist movement have not yet passed the half-way mark and a harder road may still lie ahead,” Dr. Goldmann warned. “If it should prove impossible to alter appreciably the ratio of Jews between Israel and the diaspora and to secure complete solidarity between the two parts of Jewry, both the future of Israel and of the diaspora would look precarious,” he said.
He stressed that relations between Israel and diaspora Jews “must be based on their kinship, and developed in the spirit of mutual consultation. The diaspora has the right and duty to advise Israel. It must, however, leave all decisions to the Jewish State where her sovereignty and her security are concerned,” Dr. Goldmann said. “At the same time,” he continued, “Israel must recognize the autonomy of the Jewish communities of the world in determining their internal and external policies.”
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.
