A suggestion that a commission of trained Israeli instructors should be sent to the United States to educate American Jewish youth in Zionism was made here last night. The proposal was voiced by Eliahu Dobkin, Jewish Agency immigration chief, at a press conference.
Declaring that Zionist education and propaganda in the U.S. has been restricted to fund-raising, Mr. Dobkin called for a new approach to the problem of Zionist education among youth and the development of a new pioneering spirit. He complained that the American Jewish community spent only $210,000 on its Zionist youth education last year and that only 50,000 of 750,000 American Jewish young men and women are organized in Zionist youth movements.
Refugee and DP camps for Jews in Europe will be liquidated some time next month, Mr. Dobkin disclosed, adding that at that time only 50,000 Jews will remain in Germany and Austria. He asserted that for the first time in history Zionism has liquidated two entire Jewish communities outside of Israel–the Bulgarian and Yugoslav Jewish communities. He said that the Czechoslovakian community is also being emptied into Israel.
The chief source of immigration to Israel during the next year will remain Jews from Middle East countries, particularly Turkey and Tripolitania. He emphasized that Israel is “vitally interested” in immigrants from the Western countries where, however, he said, “Zionist zeal has slackened.”
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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.
