Hadassah Adopts $12.5 Million Budget; Kenen Warns Israel ‘gravely’ Endangered by New Buildup

Hadassah yesterday adopted a budget of $12.5 million for the support of its programs in Israel and the United States. The budget, adopted by the more than 2,500 delegates at the closing session of the 56th annual convention of the Women’s Zionist Organization of America, allotted $10.25 million for the support of Hadassah’s social service and medical programs in Israel. The remaining $2.25 million will finance its programs in the United States. Almost half the budget, $6 million, will be used to maintain the Hadassah-Hebrew University Medical Centers at Ein Karem and on Mount Scopus in Jerusalem. Another $2.3 million was allotted to Youth Aliyah. the international Jewish child welfare movement. More than 134,000 orphaned and underprivileged children have been aided by Hadassah-sponsored educational and vocational training programs since World War II. The remainder of the budget was allocated for the Jewish National Fund, which purchases and reclaims eroded land in Israel, and for other Hadassah programs. Hadassah’s $2.25 million budget for its American programs will be devoted to Zionist work among Jewish youth, the advancement of Jewish education, volunteer work and antipoverty programs.

1. K. Kenen, executive vice chairman of the American Israel Public Affairs Committee, told the delegates that the people of Israel have been “gravely” endangered by the new military buildup in the Suez area and the failure of the United States to take effective counteraction. He said the “prospects for a genuine Arab-Israel peace have become remote as a result of the glaring Soviet-Egyptian violation of the standstill,” and added, “The danger which Israel faces resembles the crisis our own country faced in Cuba in 1962.” He noted that Israel has been demanding contractual peace treaties which obligate the parties to each other while the Soviet Union speaks of “separate and parallel” documents to be deposited with the United Nations. “They refer to a state of peace rather than a peace treaty,” Mr. Kenen said. “But this recent glaring (Egyptian) breach of faith will deepen Israel’s apprehension. For. often in the past, in 1948, in 1951, in 1956, in 1959, and in 1967, and now in the dangerous present. Israel has learned that she cannot rely on third parties or agencies to enforce and safeguard ephemeral guarantees. This time, there must be peace treaties, signed by the parties and obligating them to each other, in indelible, not invisible ink.”

Following Mr. Kenen’s speech the delegates unanimously adopted two resolutions. One urging the U.S. to protest “efforts by the Soviet Union to expand its power and influence in the Middle East; to grant Israel financial support to maintain her economy and to achieve solutions consistent with the territorial integrity, political independence and viability of Israel as a Jewish state. The second resolution called upon the Soviet Union to permit the emigration of Jews who seek to go to Israel. The resolution also urged the Soviet government to grant its Jewish citizens the same rights with respect to their religious and cultural rights as Jews, as are accorded to other Soviet nationalities and religious groups as set forth in the Soviet Constitution and the Universal Declaration of Human Rights. The delegates to the convention unanimously reelected Mrs. Max Schenk of New York as president of the organization.