A total of $42,318,550 in State of Israel bonds was sold during the calendar year 1955, the board of governors of the Israel Bond Organization was told last night at the Savoy-Plazal Hotel here. The results of the 1955 campaign represent a 20 percent increase over the previous year. They bring the total of Israel bonds sold since the inception of the drive in May, 1951 to $216,595,450.
The report on the results of the campaign was presented to the board by Dr. Joseph J. Schwortz, vice president of the Israel Bond Organization. Presiding at the meeting was Dr. Abba Hillel Silver who is chairman of the board of governors. This is the first meeting of the board since Dr. Silver accepted its chairmanship last month. More than 100,000 Israel bonds were sold during the year, Dr. Schwartz noted. Some 60 percent of the 1955 purchasers had never owned any Israel bonds before, he pointed out.
The 150 American Jewish leaders attending the meeting of the board of governors adopted a goal of a minimum of $75,000,000 in Israel bond sales during 1956. The resolution announcing the $75,000,000, goal expressed the determination of the board members “to take every possible step to assure the fulfillment of that aim as a decisive service to the cause of Israel and of the Jewish people.”
In a call for the fullest participation in the campaign to provide maximum capital for Israel through Israel bonds, Dr. Silver told the board members: “Whatever support is given to the State of Israel through the purchase of Israel bonds helps to under-gird its economy and to strengthen the hands of its defenders.”
“In the last analysis,” Dr. Silver pointed out, “it is the economic strength of the State of Israel which will determine its capacity to defend itself against aggression and consequently also its ability to survive. A sound economy towards which the Government of Israel has been steadily moving is the surest guarantee for the ultimate solution of its political problems. That, and the stout hearts and firm resolutions of the Israelis themselves, who have built their country with such zeal and vision and who can be relied upon to defend it with their very lives.”
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