Liliane Levy Winn, president of the American Sephardi Federation, who returned from a brief trip to Israel several days ago, revealed that Premier Menachem Begin assured American and world Sephardi leaders with whom he met in Jerusalem that he intends “to live up to my campaign platform and take every necessary step to eliminate the social and cultural inequities which affect so many Israeli citizens–especially of Sephardi and Oriental origins.”
At the meeting, a three-point program was submitted to Begin by a delegation consisting of World Sephardi Federation President Nessim D. Gaon of Geneva, Mrs. Winn, Stephen Shalom of New York, Raymond Mallel of Los Angeles, Albert Benatar of France, MK Shlomo Hilled of Israel and delegates from Latin America.
The program called for: the convening of an international Prime Minister’s conference on Jewish solidarity for the elimination of the social gap; increased representation by Sephardim on all levels of the Jewish Agency, the World Zionist Organization and the Israeli government; and the development of emergency methods for solving the social gap through the establishment of a special department or super ministry which would deal exclusively with this issue.
According to Mrs. Winn, “The Prime Minister, in an obvious display of emotion, accepted the proposal and promised to eliminate within four years the intolerable housing conditions in which 60,000 Sephardi families now live.'” She said Begin then added, “My ears and doors are always open for full cooperation with the Separadi Federation.”
The Sephardi leaders, who had been in Jerusalem as delegates to the Jewish Agency Assembly, were unanimous in their opinion that Begin was sincere. “The world Sephardi community generally, and the American Sephardi Federation, especially,” said Mrs. Winn, “are absolutely convinced of Mr. Begin’s sincerity and will be watching closely to monitor the social progress that will be stimulated by Israel’s new government.”
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.
