WELCOME ZIONISTS Large cloth flag from Biltmore Conference, 1942

WELCOME ZIONISTS Large cloth flag from Biltmore Conference, 1942

WELCOME ZIONISTS - A large cotton flag that was hoisted at the international Zionist conference held at the Biltmore Hotel in New York - the "Biltmore Conference" which was held on May 6-11, 1942. extremely rare.

On the flag is written in large blue letters "Welcome Zionists" and Star of David in the center. Blue silk letters on white cotton fabric. The flag was hung to welcome the Zionist delegates who came especially to the Biltmore Conference, which paved the way for the continuation of the Zionist enterprise [see below].

The Biltmore Conference, which took place in New York City at the Biltmore Hotel between May 6 and 11, 1942, was a major event at a fateful time for the Jewish people. The conference, organized by the president of the Zionist Organization of America, Rabbi Abba Hillel Silver, in collaboration with the president of the World Zionist Organization, Chaim Weizman, and the chairman of the Jewish Agency, David Ben-Gurion. The conference was convened in the absence of the possibility of holding the Zionist Congress during World War II, however A significant effort was made to make it as similar as possible to the Congress, and about 600 delegates from 18 countries participated. At the conference, a central message emerged for European Jewry in its most difficult hour: "a message of hope and encouragement to their Jewish brothers in the ghettos and concentration camps of Europe controlled by Hitler" and prayers that "The hour of their release may not be far off."

The Biltmore Conference established a milestone in the beginning of the struggle led by Ben-Gurion for the immediate establishment of the Jewish state, against the background of disappointment in the Zionist movement from the White Paper of 1939, which completed Britain's gradual withdrawal from its commitment to the principle of a national home for the Jewish people in the Land of Israel. In view of Britain's dependence on American aid during the war, Ben-Gurion thought in 1941 that any decision made regarding the Land of Israel after the war would be made with the decisive involvement of the United States, And so he began to strengthen his ties with the Zionist leadership there, in order for it to increase its influence on the American government so that it would support the Zionist plan. At that conference, three main sections were determined. A. Opening the gates of the land for free Jewish immigration. B. Handing over the supervision of the immigration and the development of the land in the uninhabited areas to the Jewish Agency. C. A demand for the establishment of a "Jewish Commonwealth" and, in fact, a sovereign Jewish state in the entire territory of Eretz Israel (undivided) which will be integrated into the democratic system after the war.

In November of that year, the Zionist Executive Committee in Jerusalem approved, by a large majority, the main points of the plan that became the official political platform of the Zionist movement. In Petah Tikva and Tel Aviv-Jaffa there are streets named after the Biltmore plan.

91x90 cm. Light peeling of paint in some of the letters. overall condition good.