The official transcript of the Knesset sessions containing Premier David Ben Gurion’s statement charging American Zionist leaders with being “bankrupt” appeared today unchanged, despite the Premier’s announced intention of altering the wording in the spirit of explanations he purportedly made to Rep. Emanuel Celler. The official Knesset minutes contain Mr. Ben Gurion’s unaltered speech.
Speaking before a luncheon meeting of the Commercial and Industrial Club in Tel Aviv, Dr. Emanuel Neumann, co-director of the Jewish Agency’s economic department, said that he could not understand why the Premier had singled out American Zionist leaders for his attack since all Zionist leaders in countries outside Israel could be blamed for a similar failure to migrate to Israel. Asserting that not enough had been done to encourage American Jewish migration to Israel, Dr. Neumann maintained that when conditions prove right there will be a great migratory movement from America.
The American Zionist leader insisted that the only path of economic stabilization for Israel was providing proper facilities for attracting private capital from Jews abroad. Insisting that other ways of raising capital such as the United Jewish Appeal, bond sales and grants-in-aid were all temporary substitutes for private capital investment, Dr. Neumann declared that to his knowledge many Jews abroad were prepared to invest in Israel when conditions were more satisfactory.
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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.
