The Israel Parliament, at its meeting last night prior to adjourning for the Passover recess, adopted a bill aimed at encouraging foreign capital investment in the Jewish state. Forty-seven members of the Parliament voted in favor of the measure which was introduced by the government, while 15 Mapam deputies voted against it. Eight other members of the Knesset abstained.
The bill provides among other things that approved investors will be permitted to take out of the country ten percent of their investments in dollars a year. It also reduces income taxes for the first five years on earnings from approved undertakings established by foreign investors in Israel.
The session was closed with a Passover massage by Speaker Joseph Sprinzak addressed to the people of Israel and to Jews throughout the world. The latter were invited to spend next Passover in Israel.
The Cabinet last night received an up-to-the-minute report on the international situation affecting Israel from Foreign Minister Moshe Sharett. It heard a report on the Anglo-Israel financial negotiations presented by Finance Minister Eliezer Kaplan, and approved the formation of a council to serve as custodian of absentee property in Israel.
The Cabinet also confirmed the recently-concluded Hungarian-Israel trade agreement and approved the appointment of a Ministerial committee set up to develop the area of the Huleh marshes, located in the nothern part of the country. Immigration problems were also taken up at last night’s session while the program of housing the government’s offices in Jerusalem was approved.
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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.
