More than $250,000 in cash was collection here today at the ninth annual officers luncheon of the Council of Organizations of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York. The meeting, which was attended by the presidents of 1,500 Jewish organizations in New York, was addressed by to Aubrey Eban, Israeli representative to the United Nations, Henry Morgenthau Jr., chairman of the national U.J.A. campaign for $250,000,000, and former Gov. Herbert H. Lehman.
Eban told the gathering that there could be no Arab-Jewish unity within a single state or confederation although there could be Arab-Jewish cooperation based on the equality and the integrity of an independent Israel and its independent neighbors. Outlining the progress of the newly created republic of Israel, Mr. Eban stated that “internally, the process of consolidation is advancing swiftly. The governmental machine is nearing completion. Administrative and Judicial institutions are becoming perfected in their establishment and personnel.
“On the international scene,” he said, “the title of the Provisional Government to represent the interests of its territory and its inhabitants is no longer seriously doubted.” He said the Irgun-government rift in Tel Aviv last week proves the “readiness and ability of the Government of Israel to fulfill international obligations and uphold its own authority even in the cruelest and most poignant circumstances.”
Morgenthau told the assemblage that “the Government of Israel is faced with gigantic tasks. Between now and the end of summer, the thousands of Jewish refugees still living in squalor and filth on Cyprus must be removed to Israel. The vanguard of the hundreds of thousands of homeless Jews in Europe who are desperately anxious to go to Israel must begin to move. But this mass migration, involving a quarter of a million people in a one or two-year period, cannot possibly be accomplished without the active aid of the Jews in the United States.”
Indicating the part to be played by American Jewry in the destiny of Jews throughout the world, Gov. Lehman stated: “In the final analysis, what the Jews of America do in the next few months and years, may well determine the future of Jews everywhere. You have already played a significant part in the shaping of that future. The state of Israel was born out of the heroism and the self-sacrifice of the Jews in Palestine. But part of your strength was in their sinews; part of your determination strengthened their resolve.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
