$107,200,000 in Israel Bonds Subscriptions; Shazar; Just Peace to End Hatred

President Zalman Shazar of Israel called yesterday for a just peace in the Middle East that would “end the hatred” as well as the fighting between Arabs and Jews. The Israel President told 2,000 delegates at the International Inaugural Israel Bond Conference last night that a just peace “means defensible borders for Israel and a decent settlement of the Arab refugee question.” Shazar emphasized that the refugee problem must not be solved at the expense of the “Jewish character of Israel” which requires that “all of Jerusalem” remain the capital of Israel. He added that the Jews in Israel and the rest of the world “demand that Jerusalem shall never be divided again.” Shazar called for greater support “through the splendid means of State of Israel Bonds” to prepare Israel to receive Jews who are now imprisoned in Soviet Russia and the Arab countries. Sam Rothberg, general chairman of the Israel Bond Organization, who presided at the dinner, announced that the pre-conference sales activities had produced a record-setting total of $107,200,000 in Israel Bond subscriptions for the opening of this year’s unprecedented $400,000,000 campaign. Rothberg said the Israel Bond proceeds would be used to provide housing and jobs for 50,000 new immigrants this year, to sustain Israel’s economy at a time when its own resources must cover massive defense costs, and to enable Israel to receive and establish as self-supporting citizens those Jews who may be permitted to leave the Soviet Union.

Emphasizing that the 1071 goal of $400,000,000 constitutes a figure almost twice the amount realized in any previous year of the Bond campaign, he called for the adoption of new standards of cooperation on the part of Jewish communities. Rothberg also urged the expansion of the campaign within the nonsectarian community which, he said, recognizes the “important role of Israel in protecting the interests of the United States in the Middle East.” With Israel “at the crossroads between peace and war, between hope and danger,” he said, “the partnership between us and Israel demands a deeper involvement on our part.” Discussing the plight of Jews in Russia, President Shazar said: “Their choked cries stir the conscience of the world.” He emphasized that the conscience of the Jewish people, as well, must be stirred by the need to prepare Israel to receive “the Jews imprisoned behind the curtain of Iron and Crescent.” It was important that the Israel Bond campaign provide the economic, technological and social conditions necessary to give persecuted Jews a new home in Israel, the President declared. “Together with you, we call to the rulers that suppress them ‘Let my people go’ and to you, and all the lands of freedom, the State of Israel calls out: ‘Help us to receive them,'” Shazar said.

Praising American Jewry as the chief source of strength for Israel, the President paid a very warm tribute to Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, the noted Jewish leader in mass rescue and settlement in Europe and Israel before, during and after World War II. He declared that Dr. Schwartz, who has served as a key leader in the Joint Distribution Committee, Unites Jewish Appeal, and Israel Bonds, has made an enormous contribution to the growing involvement and leadership of American Jewry. Shazar added that he remembered him as “the good angel rescuing the remnants of massacred European Jewry.” Shazar, who is scheduled to meet with President Nixon tomorrow, told a press conference on his arrival here Thursday night that he had come to the United States at a “fateful moment for my people.” He expressed the hope that as in the past, maximum efforts will be made to arrive at “understanding and aid” between Israel and the U.S. Shazar also stated that the people of Israel are “profoundly gratified by your helpful sympathy for our brothers in various parts of the world where they have been deprived of freedom and justice.” Dr. Schwartz said in his address that as long as there is an Israel, “no Jews will stand alone and Jews, wherever they live, will have to fight alone for their freedom.” He described as a great miracle of our time “the heroic stand of Russian Jews in demanding the right to go to Israel. Ira Guilden, president of the Israel Bond Organization, told the delegates that economic development is at the core of Israel’s ability to meet all its vital problems.