An emotional candle-lighting ceremony, angry demonstrations of partisan politics and a strong affirmation by President Yitzhak Navon that Israel’s desire to “be different” is the source of our strength and resilience,” enlivened the opening session of the 30th World Zionist Congress at the Binyanei Ha’coma convention hall here last night.
In addition to Navon, who greeted the Congress delegates as chief of state, the principal speakers were Foreign Minister Yitzhak Shamir and Leon Dulzin, chairman of the World Zionist Organization Executive, who delivered the keynote address. (See JTA Bulletin of December 8). This morning’s session was addressed by Charlotte Jacobson, chairman of the WZO’s American Section who stressed that the Zionist establishment must be reorganized to achieve its goals.
SHAMIR HECKLED REPEATEDLY
Shamir was heckled repeatedly while delivering what was billed as a major political address. He blamed President Reagan’s Middle East peace initiative for the lack of diplomatic progress after Israel’s successful campaign against the Palestine Liberation Organization in Lebanon.
According to Shamir, the trend in Lebanon favored good relations with Israel. Israel had hoped after the destruction of the PLO in Beirut that the U.S., Egypt, and possibly even Jordan would join in renewed autonomy negotiations.
However, Shamir claimed, because of the Reagan plan, the Arabs are now discussing how to get Israel out of Judaea and Samaria and how to establish a Palestinian state, led by the PLO. Israel will never accept such a state, Shamir declared. At that point, Labor Zionist delegates and members of the Peace Now movement leaped to their feet waving placards reading “Shamir, This Is Not The Way” and “Zionism Is Not Occupation.”
FISTICUFFS BREAK OUT
Several delegates hurled epithets at the hecklers and in a few cases fisticuffs broke out. Ushers separated the fighters and when order was restored, WZC chairman Dulzin apologized to Shamir. The Foreign Minister continued his speech. But shortly afterwards a huge banner was unfurled from the balcony by Peace Now followers. It read, in Hebrew, “Shamir: Lama?– Kacha, “roughly translated, “Shamir: Why? — Because that’s the way it is.”
The banner was a reference to a recent statement by Shamir that Israeli youth must be taught clearly and simply that the Jewish right to “Eretz Israel” is not a subject for questioning but a self-evident right. “Why?” he asked rhetorically at a Herut convention earlier this week, “Because that’s the way it is.”
However, the Foreign Minister called for unity. “I know that there are some people in this hall who do not want Menachem Begin to be Premier or Yitzhak Shamir Foreign Minister,” he said. “But there is no room for words and expressions of hatred despite political differences. Israel is a democratic state which chooses its government on election day. If you want to change the government, do it through the Knesset,” he said.
NAVON CITES A DANGER
Navon’s speech was in a different vein. He devoted much of it to the recent wave of anti-Semitism in the wake of the war in Lebanon. He said that from reports he received it was unprecedented in scope and intensity, beyond anything the Jewish world has known for “many years.”
However, Navon spoke out strongly against “Those who say the whole world is against us.” He warned that “it is easy to be swept away by this sentiment” but it is dangerous. “We must not fall into such a mood.” In the first place, Navon observed, the assertion that “the whole world is against us simply is not true. Thank God Israel has many friends.” Secondly, this sentiment “frees us from our own responsibility.” Thirdly, it inevitably breeds depression. “We live on this planet, not on some other world,” Navon declared.
“It is vital not to make such generalizations, he said. Granted, there has been intemperate criticism of Israel, even from its friends, and they have applied a double standard. “But let us remember: it is we who want to be treated differently … who seek to be different from other nations in our area … to be the People of the Book, to build a just, equitable society … We can’t have it both ways, ” he said.
Navon added that this desire to “be different” is “the source of our strength and resilience.”
Navon also endorsed a statement made earlier in the evening by Sephardic Chief Rabbi Ovadia Yosef who urged the Zionist movement to inculcate “the values of our ancient heritage” into the young generation in the diaspora because that was the key to future aliya. Navon repeated this, adding, “You can ask the young to keep their identity, but how can they keep it if they know nothing about it?”
A PROFOUNDLY MOVING SESSION
The most profoundly moving session at the Congress came at its opening when a large seven branch menorah was kindled. The honor of lighting the first candle went to a Soviet Jewish emigre, Yosef Mendelevich. He performed the ceremony “in the name of my brothers and sisters and all of the Soviet aliya activists, the olim, the prisoners of Zion.”
The Shehechyanu blessing was recited by the oldest delegate, Rabbi Israel Goldstein, a prominent American Zionist leader and rabbi who has lived in Jerusalem for many years.
The ceremonials, conducted in an atmosphere of reverent silence, were preceded by near choos as the overflow audience of delegates, dignitaries and other invited guests were caught in a crush of thousands of “ordinary folk” filling the aisles. The Congress organizers could not cope with the huge crowd and some prominent guests were unable to reach their seats.
One of them, Energy Minister Yitzhak Modai, stalked out of the hall in protest. But most of the others bore the discomfort with good humor and seemed genuinely surprised and pleased that the Congress attracted such broad interest.
JACOBSON FOCUSES ON PRACTICAL ACTION
Mrs. Jacobson, who will shortly complete her term as chairman of the WZO-American Section, called today for more practical action in the areas of immigration and absorption. “We must not let our vision be clouded by our past achievements,” she said. “If the Zionist movement is to play a major role in Jewish life, it simply must face reality.”
According to Jacobson, today’s reality indicates that the present structure of the WZO is breaking down She suggested that confrontations on issues should be avoided. Instead, efforts must be made to create the necessary pre-conditions for change. “The Zionist movement needs its own ‘Project Renewal,'” she said, referring to the project undertaken by Israel in partnership with American Jewry to eliminate slum neighborhoods.
PLIGHT OF FALASHAS
Another issue raised was the plight of the Falashas, Ethiopian Jews. The Public Committee for Ethiopian Jews held a press conference yesterday at which its leaders complained of inaction on the Falashas. Committee chairman Michael Korinaldi charged that Israel and the Zionist movement have so far failed to rescue Ethiopian Jews and proposed that the Zionist Congress appoint a commission of inquiry into that failure.
Korinaldi noted that at the turn of the century there were some 250,000 Jews in Ethiopia, they number only 25,000 today. “What are we waiting for, that all of them should perish?” he asked.
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.
