So right, you are wrong. Rav Elchonon quotes his Rebbe’s statement about the members of the “Evsektsia” (the Jewish section of the Communist Party of the Soviet Union — not Zionistic in any way);
Look yourself in the R’ Boruch Ber’s t’shuva at the end of the “Birkas Shmuel”. I saw in one ultra-Yeshivishe book (written by someone of your and myfriend’s ilk) that R’ Boruch Ber was upset about R’ Elchonon’s heter in the inyan.