David Ben-Gurion, Israel’s first Prime Minister, left here today for London, completing his highly successful visits to the United States and Canada during which he helped the United Jewish Appeal and the Israel Bond Organization in their campaigns and was pledged by 12 American donors the sum of $1, 200, 000 for his educational work in the Negev.
His last act on the American continent was to address a dinner here last night attended by more than 1, 200 Canadian Jewish leaders. The dinner was arranged by the United Jewish Appeal of Toronto of which Rabbi Stuart E. Rosenberg is chairman. Paul Martin, Canadian Minister for External Affairs, and currently Acting Prime Minister, greeted the Israeli statesman at the dinner.
Mr. Martin saluted Ben-Gurion’s whole career as a demonstration of the eminent practicability of looking beyond the immediate difficulty and aiming at distant goals. “The illumination of a farther vision,” he said, “is a theme often touched upon in the Bible of which you, Mr. Ben-Gurion, are a renowned student and an important part of the common cultural heritage which Canada and Israel share.”
Mr. Martin compared Israel to Canada as”countries of and for pioneers, both being still young in the scale of history and still facing enormous challenges in developing our land — challenges which spring from new frontiers of settlement, the increasing complexity of industrial society.”
Upon his arrival here yesterday, Mr. Ben-Gurion was met at Malton Airport by 350 people, including the mayor of metropolitan Toronto.
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