A request that the United States make “all conventional weapons in the American arsenal available to Israel so that it can maintain its defense capabilities,” was called for in a resolution adopted by the National Board of the American Zionist Federation which met here this week. While expressing gratitude to the U.S. government for aid given to Israel during the Yom Kippur War and since, the resolution stated that with “Syria threatening Israel’s northern flank and with open warfare a possibility, it is essential that these weapons be made available to Israel now.”
Other resolutions presented by Moshe Kagan that were adopted by the 700,000 member Zionist coordinating group of 13 national Zionist organizations called for a reaffirmation of support for the Jackson/Mills-Vanik legislation, criticism of Syria for the recent murder of four Jewish women and Syria’s policy of discrimination against its remaining 4500 Jews, and pledges of additional support for Israel.
The Jackson/Mills-Vanik legislation was called a “moral issue that should not be sacrificed in the bartering process for detente, as important as it is to improve relations between the United States and Soviet Russia.” The resolution expressed the belief that “a show of weakness by the U.S. government on the Jackson/Mills-Vanik trade proposal would in the long run destroy the very aims of detente and the mutual respect it must engender to be successful.”
Unswerving support of material and human resources for Israel in its struggle for survival and development was expressed in another resolution and in a letter to Premier Golda Meir from Rabbi Israel Miller, president of the American Zionist Federation. The resolution called for “personal aliya; and for financial aid through the United Jewish Appeal, through investments in Israel Bonds, and through strengthening the Zionist public information programs in behalf of the validity and justice of the Israel cause.”
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.
