Aryeh L. Pincus, chairman of the Jewish Agency, proposed today creation of a special $12,000,000 fund to speed absorption of 250,000 new immigrants who have been especially hard hit by Israel’s current economic crisis.
He made the proposal in an address to 200 American and Canadian Jewish leaders, comprising the 12th annual United Jewish Appeal mission, who arrived in Israel last night for an intensive survey of the immigrant absorption problems of the Jewish Agency. During their 11-day stay here, mission members will meet with Premier Levi Eshkol and with most other Cabinet members as well as Jewish Agency officials.
Mr. Pincus told the UJA leaders that the proposed fund would aim mainly at helping the children of unabsorbed newcomers, as well as in solving the severe problems presented by social welfare cases, such as the aged, blind and handicapped Jews among the new immigrants. He stressed that 30 percent of adult immigrants from Afro-Asian countries were completely illiterate, and said they urgently needed assistance.
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.
