Asserting that “any encouragement to the enemies of Israel will only make for instability and uncertainty in a region which urgently needs peace for the development of its economic potential”, Rudolf G. Sonneborn, chairman of the National Council of the United Jewish Appeal, who has just returned from a visit to Israel, today expressed the hope that “the American Government will do all in its power to strengthen the Government of Israel.”
Describing the measures taken by the Government of Israel to make possible the absorption of large numbers of immigrants, Mr. Sonneborn said, in a statement to the press, that the introduction of the austerity program which also includes the reduction of wages was “an act that required political wisdom and intestinal fortitude.” He emphasized that the tragic plight of tens of thousands of refugees who are now living in reception camps in Israel can be eased only through the largest possible assistance by all American Jews through the United Jewish Appeal.
“The Jews of America have a dual challenge,” Mr. Sonneborn stated, “to provide the resources of food, shelter, medical service while the refugees are still in the reception camps, and also as rapidly as possible to get the immigrants out of the camps into self-respecting, self-sustaining jobs.” Although Israel faces economic difficulties brought about largely by the influx of hundreds of thousands of Jews this year, Mr. Sonneborn expressed the view that Israel’s economy “is fundamentally sound.”
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The Archive of the Jewish Telegraphic Agency includes articles published from 1923 to 2008. Archive stories reflect the journalistic standards and practices of the time they were published.
