Eshkol Addresses U.S. Jewish Leaders; Stresses Importance of Aid

Asserting that Israel’s achievements during her first decade of statehood must be consolidated through expanded economic effort, Levi Eshkol, Israel’s Minister of Finance, today emphasized the importance of American aid through Israel bonds to maintain the pace of his country’s economic development.

Mr. Eshkol, who arrived in the U.S. last Thursday, was the principal speaker at a meeting of the board of governors of the Israel Bond Organization at the Hotel Pierre here. More than 250 Jewish leaders from the United States and Canada attended the meeting, which was devoted to planning an intensified effort during the coming months for the Israel bond drive, which must raise $75, 000, 000 during 1958.

Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, vice president, reported that $335, 258, 250 in Israel bonds have been sold in the seven years since May 1, 1951, “It would be a cruel blow to many hundreds of thousands of Jews in various parts of the world, if we were to assume that the job of providing a home in Israel for Jews in distress has been completed, ” Dr. Schwartz said. “It is because Israel will have to continue to admit additional Iarge numbers of immigrants in the coming years that she will require large-scale resources from Israel bonds. Israel bond dollars must provide the economic opportunities — the homes, settlements, factories and jobs to enable the newcomers to earn their own way and become self-sustaining and productive citizens of the republic of Israel.”

Abraham Feinberg, president of the Israel Bond Organization, reported that almost 1, 000, 000 Americans have invested in Israel bonds during the past seven years., “It is of interest to note, ” he said, “that Protestants and Catholics as well as Jews have purchased Israel bonds. This response has been influenced as much by the heroic struggle of the Jewish people to rebuild the ancient Jewish homeland as by their material success in establishing a growing economy on sound foundations.”

Mr. Eshkol stressed the Importance of the projected economic development to the stabilization of relations between Israel and her Arab neighbors. “The more viable our economy, the stronger our statehood,” he said. “Israel’s political future is deeply bound up with her economic development. In the measure that we convince our Arab neighbors that their boycotts and threats do not basically obstruct our development, the ingathering of our exiles, and the strengthening of our defenses — in the same measure the long road to peace will be accordingly shortened.”