American Fund Dinner Yields $200,000 for Israel Institutions

A $100 a plate dinner arranged by the American Fund for Israel Institutions tonight yielded over $200,000 in the Fund’s current drive for $1,857,000. The dinner was given at the Waldorf Astoria in honor of Spyros P. Skouras, president of Twentieth Century Fox Film Corporation, The AFII supports and maintains a broad network of cultural, educational and artistic institutions in Israel.

Ambassador Abba Eban of Israel, who was one of the principal speakers, emphasized that, despite serious tensions in the Middle East, Israel was determined to consolidate its position as a democratic nation in that strategic area of the world. He said there were no indications at the present time of any diminution in Arab hostility toward Israel, and asserted that the Jewish State will develop “its culture and its institutions, safeguard its security and its honor within the framework of this hostility.”

Fund vice-president Fredric R. Mann, who recently returned from Israel, in a report on the work of the Fund, stated; “The need for making life in Israel complete, for the bolstering of its morale and for the desire to weld the population into a homogeneous whole – all these are possible through the development of cultures, education and the arts as fostered by the American Fund.”

Mr. Skouras was presented with two silver cups, designed and handmade by the artists of the Bezalel School, Jerusalem, a beneficiary of the American Fund, “in profound gratitude for his inspiring leadership on behalf of the cultural and artistic growth of Israel and for his deep understanding that the strength of a free civilization must be preserved and replenished by the enrichment of the mind and the spirit.”