American and Canadian Jewish leaders voted today to raise $100,000,000 in 1965 through the sale of State of Israel Bonds to finance the first phase of a five-year plan for expanding the industrial development of Israel.
The action came at the close of a three-day national planning conference at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel, following a request from Prime Minister Levi Eshkol of Israel. The Israel leader called for the adoption of a $100,000,000 quota for the world-wide Israel bond campaign in the current year “to enable Israel to provide employment for the waves of immigrants from East and West who, we hope, will join us in the years ahead.”
Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, executive vice-president of the Israel Bond Organizations, reported to the 300 assembled Jewish leaders from all parts of the country that an unprecedented total of $85,380,350 in Israel bonds was sold in 1964 in the United States and other parts of the free world. He said that the result exceeded the $85,000,000, quota for 1964 by $380,350. “The amount raised in the 1964 bond drive,” Dr. Schwartz said, “constituted a record for the campaign, representing by far the largest sum sold in any year during the 14 year history of Israel bonds.”
Dr. Schwartz announced that $70,276, 850, or more than 82 percent of the 1964 total, was sold in the United States; $5,105,650 was in Canada; $5,583,700 in Western Europe, and $4,414,150 in Latin America. He described the extraordinary results of last year as a “heartening demonstration of a partnership of progress that is rapidly moving Israel toward economic independence.” He pointed out that, while the bulk of sales last year were made to members of Jewish communities, representing some 210,000 purchasers, purchasers of $12,248,500 in Israel bonds were made by 445 banks during 1964 as a “striking confirmation of the widespread faith in Israel as an area for productive investment.”
FEINBERG RE-ELECTED PRESIDENT OF ISRAEL BOND ORGANIZATION
Abraham Feinberg, who was re-elected president of the Israel Bond Organization, announced that the 1965 campaign for Israel bonds will be formally launched at an international inaugural conference to open on February 19, at the Fontainebleau Hotel in Miami Beach. He said Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey and Deputy Prime Minister Abba Eban of Israel will be special guests at the conference, which will honor Sir Isaac Wolfson, noted British industrialist and philanthropist.
Louis H. Boyar, of Los Angeles, chairman of the board of governors of the Israel Bond Organization, announced that, during 1964, Israel paid out $24,695,700 to investors in the United States on maturing Israel bonds presented for redemption.
Samuel Rothberg, national campaign chairman of Israel Bonds, who presided at today’s closing session, reported that investments amounting to $1,100,000,000 will be required to finance Israel’s industrial development program during the period from 1965 to 1970. Of this amount, $327,000,000 will go to establish 49,000 workers in industrial plants in new development zones, at the rate of $6,700 per person, Mr. Rothberg said. He explained that Israel bond proceeds will be of decisive importance in providing the proper start for the new five-year industrial development program.
AMBASSADOR COMAY CALLS ISRAEL ‘SUCCESS STORY OF DEVELOPING WORLD’
Ambassador Michael Comay, permanent representative of Israel to the United Nations, termed Israel “the success story of the developing world,” and noted that its program of aid to other new nations had given it a new status in the world. This new status, he added, is reflected in Israel’s position in the United Nations.
“For many of the new developing countries,” Mr. Comay said, “Israel has become the pilot plant for development. Today we have a system of cooperative technical assistance which is operating in 51 states in Africa, Asia and Latin America.” He described Israel, in its drive toward self-reliance, as a “do-it-yourself state. He added: “This concept–that we must in the final analysis be prepared to rely on our own resources, our own strength, our own will to succeed–this philosophy has been the underlying basis for the success of Israel.”
In another address, Sen, John O. Pastore, of Rhode Island, chairman of the Joint Congressional Committee on Atomic Energy, declared that Israel might well turn out to be “the proving ground–the land of promise–for atoms for peace.” “Our American scientists,” he noted, “are joined with Israel’s experts to the end that nuclear plants may solve the problems of power and water for a land in dire need of both. Israel may well be the proving ground–the land of promise–for atoms for atoms for peace.”
In an evaluation of the role of American aid through the sale of Israel bonds, Sen. Pastore declared: “Through the Israel Bond Organization, you have been privileged to play an important part in history by promoting the self-reliance of Israel. That self-reliance is proclaimed in justifiable pride as the covenant is kept and as the bonds are redeemed.”
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.
