The Jewish Agency today denied press reports that only 900 of 14,000 Jewish refugees who fled from Hungary to Austria in the last two months are willing to settle in Israel. “More than 1,000 Hungarian Jews have already arrived in Israel, and the Jewish Agency is planning now to charter ships for the transfer of an additional 1,000 refugees who have already been approved in Vienna for emigration to Israel,” Shlomo Zalman Shragai, head of the Agency’s immigration department, stated. He expressed the belief that half of all the Hungarian Jewish refugees in Vienna will proceed to Israel.
The Jewish Agency also received reports today that more than 2,000 Jews have left Egypt since the start of the latest anti-Jewish persecutions there. The reports show that a large majority of the Jewish refugees from Egypt will migrate to Israel. Of 148 Jews who arrived in Athens from Egypt last week, almost all will go on to this country. Other refugees have gone, by themselves or in groups, to Italy, France, England, and other points in Europe. But most of these stops are not regarded as ultimate destinations but only as stop-overs to straighten out personal or family business before proceeding to Israel.
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