Gen. Moshe Dayan, Israel’s Defense Minister, said here Thursday night that Israel welcomed any prospect that the Soviet Union would allow all Jews who wished to emigrate to Israel to do so and could absorb them all. He made the statement in reply to a question at an Israel Bond dinner here at which he was honored as Israel Bond Man of the Year.
Dayan said, in response to another question, that if Israel remained strong, the prospects of renewal of hostilities in the Mideast were slight and that he foresaw no real likelihood of renewed warfare. He also said that he felt the Israel-Jordan ceasefire agreement was durable because it was as much to Jordan’s benefit as to Israel’s, and that ultimately it could lead to a more formal settlement.
In his address, the Defense Minister said Israel had three main problems: keeping its defenses strong, resettlement in the new territories, and taking in Soviet immigrants and absorbing them. Massive support, including Israel Bond income, from world Jewry, is vital to meeting those problems, he said.
Israel Bond Organization officials announced that $6.44 million in Bonds were sold in connection with the dinner, bringing to $18 million total Israel Bond sales for 1972 in the Chicago area. The officials said they expected 1972 sales to top the $21.8 million results in 1971.
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