For the first time–since the emergency of the Six-Day War– Hadassah is seeking goods in addition to money, Mrs. Faye L. Schenk, Hadassah Medical Organization chairman, announced today at the closing session of Hadassah’s Mid-Winter Conference which has been meeting at the Waldorf-Astoria Hotel since Monday. The 200 national leaders attending the conference voted to conduct a campaign to collect $1 million in linen supplies by the end of 1974 to equip the Hadassah Hospital scheduled to reopen on Mount Scopus.
“This is a departure for Hadassah” Mrs. Schenk explained. “Traditionally, we concentrate on raising funds to maintain our medical and educational institutions in Israel. However, the equipment of a fully new hospital facility is of such magnitude–and costs have escalated 30 percent since we undertook to rebuild this hospital which we regained in the Six-Day War in 1967–that we are now seeking contributions of linens.” Hadassah President Rose E. Matzkin announced that Mrs. Max Meth of New York will head the national campaign.
The 200 national board members adopted statements in support of the Jackson, Mills-Vanik amendment; on terrorism; Jews in Syria, Iraq and the Soviet Unions and peace in the Middle East. On the issue of terrorism, Hadassah called upon the United States to continue to urge the United Nations General Assembly to make the Declaration Against Acts of Terrorism a priority agenda matter, and to withhold economic assistance to countries supporting or sheltering terrorists. Hadassah also called for public action to demand that airlines institute effective preventive and protective measures in the airports and in flight and to influence pilots associations to refuse to land at airports whose governments support and protect terrorists.
On peace in the Middle East, Hadassah urged the U.S. government to continue its efforts to bring Israel and the Arab states into direct negotiations without pre-conditions and to recognize Jerusalem as the capital of Israel and to move the U.S. Embassy from Tel Aviv to Jerusalem as evidence of support for a unified Jerusalem.
A resolution on Jews in Syria and Iraq called upon President Nixon and UN Secretary General Kurt Waldheim to exert every possible pressure on the governments of Syria and Iraq to protect the human rights and dignity of the Jews living in those countries and to facilitate their emigration to Israel or other countries where they may live in freedom.
A resolution on Soviet Jewry called upon the Soviet government to rescind the diploma tax and grant exit permits to those who request them; free the Jewish prisoners of conscience; grant Jews the right guaranteed by the Soviet Constitution to pursue their national culture; grant facilities to practice their religion and to establish contacts with Jewish communities in other countries; and call a halt to the intensified vicious anti-Semitic propaganda, campaign in books, newspaper articles and broadcasts.
The resolution declared: “We call upon our own government to deny most favored nation status and credit privileges to the government of the USSR so long as that government persists in a policy that violates fundamental human rights. To this end we urge support of the amendment to the East-West Trade Bill introduced by Senator (Henry M.) Jackson and Reps. (Wilbur) Mills and (Charles A.) Vanik.”
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
