The Israel Bond Organization launched its 1968 campaign with a record initial sale of $41,272,000 announced at the closing session of its International Inaugural Conference here. The Conference, which set no specific goal for the year, voted to provide the major part of Israel’s $289 million development budget instead of the one-third that has been provided by bond sales in previous years. The conference was attended by 3,000 American and Canadian Jewish leaders. Principal speakers were Vice President Hubert Humphrey who reiterated the Johnson Administration’s aim to safeguard the political and territorial integrity of all states in the Middle East, and Maj. General Yitzhak Rabin, Israel Ambassador to the United States, who declared that Israel would never return to the “abnormal” situation that prevailed before last June’s Six-Day War.
The announcement of the record initial bond sales was made by Samuel Rothberg, national campaign chairman. He noted that the figure represented a 37 percent increase over the inaugural Israel bond sale of $30.150.000 at the same time last year. Since the first bond drive 18 years ago. $1.2 billion has been sold in bonds to further Israel’s economy and industrial advancement. At an earlier session of the conference, Abraham Feinberg, president of the Bond Organization, cited the technical and scientific assistance that Israel has been able to render to underdeveloped nations of Asia and Africa He said that such assistance would be available to the Arab states once peace with Israel was concluded.
HUMPHREY SAYS UNITED STATES WORKED HARD FOR CAUSE OF PEACE IN MIDDLE EAST
Vice President Humphrey, in his address, declared that the United States had worked very hard in the United Nations last fall to create the opportunity for a real peace in the Middle East. The Administration, he said, was ready to extend further help to achieve it through guarantees of political independence and territorial integrity for all states, justice for the refugees, the recognized right for national life, innocent passage of the shipping of all nations through international waterways and a limitation of the arms race in the region. Referring to the Israel bond campaign, Mr. Humphrey said “your share in helping to lay the economic foundations for Israel’s happier future has been, quite literally, a unique privilege. I congratulate you and I envy you.”
Gen. Rabin, making his first public appearance here since his appointment as Ambassador, warned that the Arab states have not altered “to any significant degree” the negative stand adopted at the Arab summit conference at Khartoum last summer.
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.
