Impassioned pleas to Jews all over the world to immigrate to Israel to “build the land” and to stand “where the supreme struggles of Jewish history are being waged” were issued here by Premier Golda Meir and by the World Zionist Organization Executive.
Mrs. Meir’s appeal was in the form of a letter addressed to Leon Dulzin, acting chairman of the WZO Executive, which will be distributed abroad during the “Aliya Months” that will be held in various countries Feb. through April to try to stimulate increased immigration from Western countries. The texts of the letter and of a “Call to the Jewish People from the World Zionist Organization” were released yesterday at a meeting of the WZO Executive presided over by Dulzin and attended by members from Israel and abroad.
In her letter, Premier Meir expressed satisfaction with the “Aliya Month” campaigns and noted that “Aliya to Israel has always been the focus of Zionist education and the constant flow of immigrants has been a stimulus to our growth and to our taking root in Eretz Yisroel.” Praising world Jewry for demonstrating “in its acts of identification with us that we are indeed one people,” a reference to the unprecedented outpouring of financial aid during and after the Yom Kippur War, Mrs. Meir continued:
“But that is not enough. The meaning of a Jewish State is first and foremost an aliya oriented state, a state to which thousands of our brethren will immigrate and in which they will be absorbed. A strong Israel, an Israel whose future and fate are in her own hands–means an Israel in which many millions of Jews are building their homes. For us aliya is our life blood. Confident in our own stand, convinced of our inherent ability to overcome all difficulties, believing in the Jewish people, I call upon you: Come to Israel and build the land.”
FATEFUL TIMES AHEAD FOR ISRAEL
The WZO Executive’s message, in a similar vein, observed that Israel was “on the thresh-hold of fateful times” in which it could once again find itself at war or “may have embarked on the road to peace. Either alternative means that we must build a strong Israel, an Israel firmly rooted in its soil, an Israel capable of facing the enemy while facing up to the challenges of peace,” the message said. “Today, more than ever, Israel needs Jews who will come here on aliya and join us–with their talent, energy, professional skills and devotion–in building a free Jewish society, a commonwealth founded on values and deeds that shall attract every Jew wherever he may be.”
The message stressed that “Immigration to Israel today means: Jewish self-realization in its highest form; the practice of Zionism to the highest degree.” It called on Jews to “Respond to the challenge and come build Israel–a super edifice to last for generations.” It is expected here that hundreds of thousands of Jews over-seas will participate in Aliya Month events in their respective countries which will include home meetings, public rallies and screening of a film featuring President Ephraim Katzir in a call for immigration.
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.
