Israel’s greatest problem is strengthening its security, Premier David Ben Gurion told a closed plenary meeting of the Jewish Agency executive in a 90-minute review of current developments in the Middle East. He underlined the government’s determination to take every necessary and possible step to fortify the army and bring its equipment up to date.
At the same time, he called immigration and settlement the most urgent tasks of the Jewish people. “We need more Jews and we need them quickly,” he told the Zionist leaders gathered from all parts of the world. He asked for an all-out increase in immigration from all corners of the world.
The Agency executive today appointed a nine-man committee of financial experts to draft detailed plans for the “new financial arm” which the last Zionist Actions Committee authorized to raise within the Zionist movement as additional funds for investment in Israel. The committee was instructed to bring in its plans in the shortest possible time.
As explained here, the new financial instrument will sell shares abroad in a new holding company which would invest its capital in various Israeli development projects, most of which are already paying dividends. One of the tasks of the drafting committee is to schedule the new organization’s fund-raising schedule in various countries so as to avoid clashing with and undermining the United Jewish Appeal and the Israel bond drive.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
