50,000 Children Attend Alliance Israelite Schools, Leader Reports

The Jewish educational facilities conducted in North Africa and the Middle East by Alliance Israelite Universelle are more necessary now than they ever were, Prof. Rene Cassin, of Paris, declared here yesterday. There are now 50,000 children in the Alliance schools.

Prof. Cassin, head of the French Council of State, and head of his country’s delegation to the current session of the United Nations Commission on Human Rights, is the president of the Alliance. He was the principal speaker here at the annual meeting of the American Friends of Alliance Israelite Universelle. “Never were the schools of the Alliance in North Africa and the Middle East as necessary as they are now,” he said. “Without these schools the Jews from those areas would be unable to contribute fully to the development of their countries.” He expressed his strong belief that North African governments will continue to grant their assistance to the Alliance schools.

French Consul-General Raymond Laporte, addressing the audience, cited the friendship between France and Israel as a politically important factor. “It is certainly comforting to think that beyond the Mediterranean Sea, in a part of the world where political instability has been the constant rule, a strong and solid democratic state is at work,” he said. “And for us, French people, such a vision is probably more comforting than for any one else,” he added, He praised the work done by the Alliance in order to bring Western civilization and ideas to the Jews of the Mediterranean area.

Other speakers at the meeting were Marcel Franco, president of the American Friends of the Alliance; Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the Jewish Agency; and Moses A. Leavitt, executive vice-president of the Joint Distribution Committee. Former Sen. Herbert H. Lehman was reelected honorary president of the American group. Alan M. Stroock was chosen again as chairman of the board; and Mr. Franco was reelected as president.