Premier Yitzhak Shamir expressed his unreserved support today for the candidacy of former Defense Minister Ariel Sharon to be chairman of the World Zionist Organization-Jewish Agency Aliya Department.
Addressing the Zionist General Council meeting where a major fight is shaping up over the Herut Hatzohar movement’s nomination of the controversial Sharon to one of the most sensitive posts in the Zionist establishment, Shamir declared that he was “happy” when he heard that “Arik (Sharon) is ready to undertake the assignment.”
Aliya, he said, was a “central problem” facing Israel and the Jewish people and he thought Sharon was the ideal man to head the department promoting it.
An opposite opinion was expressed by Yehiel Leket, Secretary of the Labor Zionist movement, who said his party supports the right of Herut to nominate someone for the aliya post, but the nominee ought to be a “unifying figure,” not one of controversy.
Mattityahu Drobless, a Herut hardliner who is co-chairman of the WZO-Jewish Agency Settlement Department, declared that other parties had no “moral right” to stand in the way of Herut’s choice.
SAYS SHARON WOULD TURN OFF JEWISH YOUTH
Dror Zeigerman, of Likud’s Liberal Party wing, said in a radio discussion of the issue that he was convinced that a large majority of Jewish youth in the diaspora would be “turned off” by Sharon whose hardline policies as Defense Minister and his role in the Lebanon war created deep divisions in Israeli society.
But Michael Kleiner, a young Herut MK, responded that if Sharon could inspire 10 percent of the Jewish people, and if as a result,some of them came to settle in Israel, it would be a major achievement. He said Sharon would “shake up” the existing WZO aliya machinery.
Shamir, meanwhile, is believed to be canvassing members of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors to support Sharon’s candidacy. The Board of Governors, which meets here next month, must approve the nomination, provided that Sharon is elected by the Zionist Council to the Jewish Agency Executive.
Political observers believe there is little chance that Sharon will get the Board’s endorsement. Its chairman, Jerold Hoffberger of Baltimore, has already publicly stated his opposition to Sharon’s nomination. The former Defense Minister is also fiercely opposed to Leon Dulzin, a Likud-Liberal who is chairman of the Jewish Agency-WZO Executives.
There is also a legal question as to whether Sharon can be named to the Jewish Agency Executive and still retain his present Cabinet post as a Minister-Without-Portfolio. He has made it clear he has no intention of leaving the Cabinet.
The Zionist Council meeting opened here last night with an address by President Chaim Herzog who called on all Israelis and their institutions to fight “the plague of yerida,” the departure of Israelis who take up permanent residence abroad.
“This is the great danger facing us,” Herzog warned. “Like an illness, it can respond to early treatment.” He agreed with Deputy Minister Dov Shilansky that it is more important to prevent yerida than to bring home the yordim — those who have gone to live abroad. Among the preventive measures endorsed by Herzog are special assistance to army veterans and reasonably priced rental flats for young couples.
Mayor Teddy Kollek of Jerusalem touched on another problem in his address at the opening session. He accused the WZO of “doing nothing” for the capital. While absorption centers in Jerusalem are packed to overflowing with immigrants who can’t find permanent homes, there are 4,000 vacant apartments in the city, he said. Kollek warned that if present trends continue, the majority of Jerusalem’s population would consist of Arabs and non-Zionist ultra-Orthodox Jews.
Dulzin, who delivered the keynote address, called for a broad-based Zionist movement with a separate movement for those Jews committed to aliyo.
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.
