A check for $500,000 for the financing of a DP airlift to Israel was today handed to Israeli Consul General Arthur Lourie by the HIAS as an advance transportation payment for individuals to The transported from DP and other areas to Israel by air. The $500,000 will be used by the Israeli Government to purchase two aircraft with which to carry out the HIAS project. The presentation of the check was made by HIAS president Samuel A. Telsey.
The agreement on the airlift, made with the Israeli Minister of Transport and communications, David Remez, provides that each of the two aircraft to be purchased should make, weather permitting, at least one flight to Israel each week with immigrants. Half of the transportation costs for each individual thus carried will be deducted from the advance payment until the $500,000 advance has been consumed. The other half will be paid by HIAS at the time of each movement to help finance current expenditures, and maintenance costs.
The agreement further provides that the planes shall at all times be the property of the Israeli Government, or such agency as that government designates, and that HIAS shall have no responsibility for, or control over, their maintenance and operation. It is expected that the HIAS airlift will be launched early this spring.
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.
