Louis A. Pincus, chairman of the Jewish Agency, told a visiting United Jewish Appeal mission today that world Jewry must help Israel solve its urgent social problems, mainly the poverty gap. Addressing 250 donors from the United States, Pincus warned that Israel’s security world be endangered by the creation of a stratified socially of wealth and poverty. It would be like having two nations, he said. He noted that 300,000 Israelis still live in substandard housing, a situation that has far-reaching repercussions. Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir told the group last night that Israelis “first of all make demands of ourselves.” He said Israelis paid $1.4 billion in taxes in 1968 and 1969 and double that amount will be collected this year.
Replying to questions, Sapir noted that since statehood. Israel has increased its exports more than 60-fold from $28 million to $1.750 billion while the Jewish population has increased only three-and-a-half times. He said that within 10-12 years Israel’s population would double. Sapir said he was encouraged by the increased immigration from the United States which now amounts to about 10,000 a year.
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.
