Hungary decided to permit resumption of Jewish emigration to Israel in cases where broken families are involved, the Jerusalem Post reported today. However, Foreign Ministry sources here said they have not knowledge about any such decision by Budapest.
The Jerusalem Post said that no details of the Hungarian decision were available and official sources would not reveal how many Hungarian Jews were expected nor the rate of their arrival. Without taking the possibility of Hungarian immigration into account–and there are an estimated 70,000 Jews in Hungary–increased immigration from Eastern Europe during the past six months has caused officials here to estimate that 30,000 immigrants would arrive in Israel within the next six months.
Treasury sources, meanwhile, said today that between 65,000,000 and 70,000,000 pounds would be needed to absorb the anticipated increased immigration. Most of the money would be needed to build housing for the newcomers. Thus far, there has been no decision on whether the Israel Government will seek to increase taxes to defray those costs or will depend on a voluntary fund-raising effort.
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