The importance of the individual, his dignity, his rights and privileges in a democratic society, of which we must remind ourselves during Brotherhood week, has already been recognized in Israel. There, all citizens, regardless of their religion, color, or national origin, enjoy the same fundamental rights. Although Israelis come from all the continents of the world, all share equally in their status as citizens of the State of Israel. And whether one is a Jew, a Christian, or a Moslem, the right to practice one's own religion according to the belief of his fathers, is guaranteed by fundamental law.
Twelve years ago, I had an opportunity to spend nearly a month in what was the British Mandate of Palestine. The Country was torn in that fateful summer of 1939 by violence and strife; it was a prime example of the British policy of divided rule.
I came away with a feeling of hopelessness for the future. But the interest in the establishment of a National Homeland for the Jewish people in this Promised Land that I had derived from my visit was rekindled at the end of World War II. The tragic plight of the Jewish people in Europe and the daring fight that was being made to build a new home in Israel under the guns of the British and Arabs stirred me deeply. I was, therefore, proud to tell the convention of the New England Zionist Region on the same platform with Doctor Silver in 1947 exactly how I felt in these words:
"Today the United Nations has before it the solution of the Palestine problem. It is my conviction that a just solution requires the establishment of a free and democratic Jewish Commonwealth in Palestine, the opening of the doors of Palestine to Jewish immigration, and the removal of land restrictions so that those members of the people of Israel who desire to work out their destiny under their chosen leaders may do so."
With this long background of my deep interest in the fight for nationhood, it was a tremendous experience to visit Israel last fall with Congressman Franklin D. Roosevelt, Jr. What a tremendous change had taken place in spirit. Swamps had been filled, deserts had become productive, and the air rang with vitality and energy.
But the problems that the Israeli people still face are enormous. Nothing in my opinion has been more admirable than the tenacity with which the Israelis have maintained their policy of unlimited immigration. Their willingness to increase their population from six hundred thousand to over one million two hundred thousand in the past three years and to plan to bring in another six hundred thousand in the next three years is testimony to their invincible faith in their future. And the Israelis have been willing to take the hard-core cases of old men and women, the sick and the infirm, whom the rest of the populace would have to support. We can get some ideas of the sacrifice that this policy entails on the population by imagining the tremendous burden we in this large country would have to carry if we increased in a three-year time our population of one hundred and fifty million to three hundred million and then undertook to increase our population to four hundred and fifty million in the next three years.
Keeping the doors open as a place of refuge to Jews who want to come to Israel from iron curtain countries or Arab lands has put a strain upon the economy of the country. While private philanthropy and private investment can help make Israel economically self-sufficient, the United Nations and our own country also have a role to play. I was glad to see the American Congress recognize last summer that this Israeli policy deserved American support and I was happy to support the appropriation of fifty million dollars for this purpose. It is my understanding that further sums are being sought for the coming years. It is with my help that they will be forthcoming. In addition to economic help so that Israel can become self-sufficient, I look upon the development of a free and democratic State of Israel in an area free from threats of aggression, as a goal to which all Americans must commit themselves and the responsibility of the United Nations to fulfill. For the peace of the world it is important that the Arab States recognize the reality of the existence of Israel. Israel is here to stay. The sooner the Arab League is ready to see what the rest of the world has seen for a long time – that a war has been ended, that boundaries have been fixed, and that peace must be established – the sooner this troubled spot of the near East can be strengthened as an outpost of democracy, then with free relations between Israel and the Arab States and with the support of our country and the rest of the United Nations, hope can be given to people who live marginal existences in under-developed areas for the raising of their standard of living.
This hope can be realized, as Prime Minister Ben-Gurion told Congressman Roosevelt and me in Jerusalem last November: "By the emergence of positions of leadership in the Arab States, of liberal, progressive elements, elements genuinely interested in the well-being of all of their people by building mutual confidences and fears of motive will disappear."
When Mr. Ben-Gurion in the same conversation was asked whether or not certain Arab States might not fear aggression by Israel, he asked us: "How could a country like Egypt with a population of twenty million fear invasion by a small nation of less than two million? Besides, we were once in Egypt and have no desire to return," he added.
This reference by the Prime Minister of the State of Israel to the liberation of the people of Israel in ancient times from slavery to freedom is historic proof of the ability of a people with the will to be free to achieve freedom. What Israel was able to accomplish in ancient times and what the State of Israel has been able to achieve in recent years should serve as a symbol to all men of the invincibility of the human spirit. In this Brotherhood Week men of good-will can set a pattern which we must seek to carry through in our actions in the entire year.
Source: Papers of John F. Kennedy. Pre-Presidential Papers. House of Representatives Files, Box 93, "Jewish people speeches." John F. Kennedy Presidential Library.