Zissu initially "hoped for a truly democratic change in Romania, as the one chance for Jews to obtain citizenship rights". Confronted with communization, he sketched out a two-stage plan for the Jewish community: a short-term recognition for the Jews as a distinct ethnic minority; later, its mass emigration to Palestine. This policy was rejected outright by Gheorghe Vlădescu-Răcoasa, the Minister for Minorities, who refused to award ethnic recognition to the Jews and, the PER suspected, blocked out pledges of financial support for Holocaust survivors. At the time, Zissu was denigrated in the PCR and CDE press.