More than 800 Ampal-American Israel Corp. stockholders purchased $250,000 worth of seven percent sinking fund debentures to aid Israel in providing housing and employment for Soviet Jewish immigrants, it was announced at its 31st annual stockholders’ meeting here this week. The Ampal Corp. also voted to extend a substantial loan to Shikun Ovdim, a construction company commissioned by the Israeli government to build part of the new housing for immigrants and young couples.
“The sudden influx of immigrants, the bulk of which came from the Soviet Union…has resulted in a terrific dearth of housing which has not been helped by a large capital inflow in foreign currency from immigration from western countries,” Ampal president Ralph Cohen said. In a speech to the stockholders, Yosef Tekoah, Israel’s Ambassador to the United Nations, likened current acts of Arab terrorism to the acts of Hitler’s special commandos and warned that Jewry today faces the greatest threat to its existence since the days of Hitler. He assured his audience, however, that Israel would deal “vigorously and successfully” with this new problem.
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