Delegates attending the 50th anniversary convention of the national Conference of Jewish Social Welfare today adopted resolutions supporting President Truman’s civil rights program, urging the admission to the U.S. of displaced persons on a non-discriminatory basis and expressing solidarity with people of Israel.
The conference voted to strive for continued efforts to “enrich the relationships between Jews in the United States and the people of Israel, seeking to establish bonds of friendship, cultural cooperation and concrete practical assistance for the major social service tasks that lie ahead.” George Rabinoff, executive director of the Training Bureau for Jewish Communal Service, was elected president of the organization.
Ilja M. Dijour, director of research for HIAS, addressing one of the sessions, reviewed the problem of Jewish immigration throughout the world and voiced the hope that solution to the DP problem would be achieved soon. He reported that “the Jews in the Moslem countries are strictly forbidden to leave their place of residence.” He said this was “an openly discriminatory measure, designed us punishment for their sympathy with the state of Israel.”
Louis Kraft, president of the International Conference of Jewish Social Work, in an address to the delegates, said that the primary welfare need in Israel today is for the training of therapists to aid emotionally disturbed refugee immigrants. “Many refugees in Israel are psychologically upset today because, after years in concentration camps, they came expecting to find a land of milk and honey, but instead face housing shortages and other problems,” he added.
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.
