The national leadership conference for Israel bonds today voted to sell $75, 000, 000 in bonds in 1958 to initiate a “decade of economic independence” for the State of Israel, which was established ten years ago.
The week-end conference, which called for increased American economic support of Israel noted that the bond campaign, which has raised more than $320, 000, 000 since 1951 represents the most important single factor in the economic development of Israel.”
The call for increased economic strength as the key to Israel’s capacity to maintain her freedom was made personally in the course of the conference by Ambassador Abba Eban and reinforced by messages from Prime Minister David Ben Gurion and Finance Minister Levi Eshkol. The campaign to sell $75, 000, 000 worth of bonds will be conducted in the United States, Canada, and 27 Latin American and European countries.
Establishing the new quota, a resolution pledged the resources and devotion of the bond leaders “to the paramount task of providing Israel with the economic armor to assure her economic stability, security, and development in the face of the growing Middle East tensions and the unceasing Arab boycott and blockade.”
The resolution “in the knowledge that economic aid to the young State of Israel will strengthen democracy in the Mediterranean area, ” welcomed “the growing recognition of the American people of the role of Israel bonds as an investment in democracy and human courage and as a token of partnership with the people of Israel, whose stirring progress in the building of a new nation has demonstrated their capacity to develop a stable and productive economy.”
“In the year of 1958, when so much depends on Israel’s capacity to meet the problems of continued immigration and the need to withstand the threats of Arab hostility, we call on the Jewish communities of the United States and Canada to mobilize for the fullest response to raise $75, 000,000 through Israel bonds,” the resolution said.
BEN GURION, ESHKOL, DR. SCHWARTZ APPEAL TO U. S. JEWS TO BUY BONDS
In a message to the conference, Prime Minister Ben Gurion said “our very existence as a democratic nation is assured by our strength on all fronts, and particularly by the vigor of our economy.” Citing the vital task Israel must perform, Mr. Ben Gurion said: “There are still lots of wasteland to settle, more immigrants to absorb and integrate. There are more homes to build, more factories to erect, more roads to chart, more power stations to construct. To do all of these things, more Israel bonds must be sold in 1958.”
Finance Minister Eshkol’s message noted Israel’s tenth anniversary and said the most fitting celebration of this milestone would be by achievement “of a new high in Israel’s progress to economic independence.” He said “Israel bonds help to make that possible.”
Dr Joseph J. Schwartz, executive vice president of the Israel Bond Organization, announced that the 1958 campaign would be officially launched at an international conference for Israel bonds which will be held in Miami Beach early next month. Stating that in the present period of unrelieved tension in the Middle East, Israel must spend huge sums for defense,” Dr. Schwartz warned that “continued economic development will be jeopardized unless Israel bonds provide the resources for this vital program.” He listed the three major tasks of 1958 bond drive:
1. Economic aid and housing to integrate the 80,000 new immigrants who entered Israel in 1957 and to absorb 70, 000 additional newcomers expected in 1958.
2. The development of the port of Elath as the avenue of increased trade with Asia and Africa.
3. The opening of the Negev to mass settlement and industrialization in order to lay the foundation for a population of 500, 000 in this new sparsely settled southern region.
Because of tremendous defense spending, Dr. Schwartz said Israel “will have little money left for economic development, unless the Israel bond campaign provides increased resources for economic consolidation. We can meet this situation only by a concerted effort to increase the sale of bonds.”
$50, 000, 000 IN ISRAEL BONDS SOLD DURING 1957, FEINBERG REPORTS
Abraham Feinberg, president of the Israel Bond Organization, told the assembled 300 Jewish leaders from the United States and Canada that a total of $49, 833, 950 in Israel bonds were sold during 1957. He stressed the importance of Israel’s decade of progress to millions outside Israel. He said Israel altered the status of Jews everywhere from that of a victim people to a people of growth. At the same time, he said, Israel has been of major importance to all nations at a time when the free world is seeking to bolster the growth of underdeveloped countries.
Israel Ambassador Abba Eban told the conference that Israel will not permit international and regional tensions “to paralyze her into inertia.” He said Israel would not be able to impress world opinion with her permanence and stability if she displayed economic weakness. He stressed the central significance of the bond campaign in building economic strength.
Mr. Eban pointed out that despite the Communist foothold in Egypt and Syria “there is nothing in the present tension which prevents us from increasing the strength of our population; integrating our immigrants, reviving the Negev, developing our cultural and scientific potentialities, consolidating our defenses, reinforcing our international status in the opinion of the world.”
Samuel Rothbert, national chairman of trustees, drew attention to the important economic advances made possible by Israel bonds. In less than ten years, he said, annual industrial production rose from $226, 600, 000 to $710, 000, 000 and agricultural production from $75, 500, 000 to $320, 000, 000. Mr. Rothberg said Israel must fulfill a continuing program of immigration and construction through a record mobilization for Israel bonds in 1958.
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