Ben Gurion Urges Full Support of U.J.A. ‘s $35,000,000 Cash Drive

The Jews of America were today urged by Israeli Premier David Ben Gurion to give their fullest support to the United Jewish Appeal’s forthcoming three-month nationwide campaign for $35,000,000 in cash.

In a cabled message to U.J.A. general chairman Edward M.M. Warburg and U.J.A. national cash chairman Jack D. Weiler, who will spark the special drive which begins immediately after the High Holy Days this weekend, the Premier asserted that there has never been a “more crucial moment” in Israel’s history and that his country “needs the free gift dollars that come through the United Jewish Appeal” if it is to maintain its steady progress toward economic stability.

“Never since Israel’s War of Independence,” the Premier declared, “has the significance of a United Jewish Appeal special cash campaign been as great as at this moment.” He said that the U.J.A. “has been and continues to be a most vital part of the four-point program of economic aid to Israel.”

Mr. Ben Gurion, who last week conferred in Jerusalem with Mr. Weiler to acquaint him with Israel’s present difficulties preparatory to the latter’s assumption of the direction of the special drive, gave a three-point summary of the new state’s immediate need for U.J.A. assistance. The Premier cited Israel’s acute need for the mass construction of new housing, its requirements for a sharp increase in agricultural production, and its need for swift development of the rich natural resources recently discovered in the Negev desert.

Mr. Warburg and Mr. Weiler, in communicating the Israel Premier’s message to the campaign leaders of the 1,500 communities that will participate in the nation-wide drive, declared that “every American Jew who has helped to make possible Israel’s initial progress in establishing a democratic system of government and the framework of a modern, free society must resolve during the observance of the High Holy Days this week-end that this support shall be continued and increased. Mr. Ben Gurion and the men and women of Israel are doing the work,” they declared. “But we must provide the means.”

Mr. Warburg and Mr. Weiler pointed out that the target for the raising of the initial $25,000,000 cash fund is October 18 and 19, when the United Jewish Appeal will hold a national leadership conference in Washington to mark the high point of the three-month drive and to receive community cash proceeds.