The members of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors, both rich and not-so-rich, dug deep into their pockets this week and come up with $10 million as the kickoff contribution to the special “Peace for Galilee” fund announced by the government and the Jewish Agency in the wake of the war in Lebanon.
The collection, which was made in an emotional atmosphere, followed the Board’s two-day tour of the northern Israeli settlements and the Lebanese front, including the captured Palestinian stronghold of Nabatiya.
The Board resolved that the special campaign would aim at $300 million in addition to regular United Jewish Appeal-United Israel Appeal con- tributions and contributions to “Project Renewal “It was the first time funds were raised at a session or the Board of Governors and it was the occasion for some remarkable expressions of solidarity. One member pledged half of his year’s pension as a Holocaust victim from’ Germany. Another said he would give half of savings he had set aside to buy his daughter a flat in Israel.
Other Board members, among them some of world Jewry’s well-known philanthropists, gave sums running into hundreds of thousands of dollars.
MONTH’S SALARY PLEDGED
Two Jewish Agency Executive members from Israel, Avraham Katz and Avraham Avihai, pledged one month’s salary whereupon Jewish Agency Executive chairman Leon Dulzin said he would suggest that this pattern be emulated by all Executive members. In an address closing the Board’s deliberations, Dulzin warned of media “distortion” abroad that could erode support for Israel even among Jews.
The main challenge, highlighted by the present emergency situation, was aliya, Dulzin stressed. For Jews to come to Israel at this time was the most meaningful expression of solidarity, he said.
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.
