The Joint Distribution Committee has invested some $40,000,000 in Malben, its social welfare program for the ill and the aged in Israel, Moses Beckelman, European director of the JDC, and Charles Passman, JDC director in Israel, reported at a press conference here today.
The Malben, which today celebrated its fifth anniversary, now has a countrywide network of hospitals, clinics, homes for the aged and sheltered workshops for disabled and blind immigrants, the JDC officials stated. This network has cared for some 30,000 persons.
In addition to maintaining and expanding this network, Malben has contributed to Israel’s welfare through the addition of 1,500 beds for tuberculosis patients. Twelve homes for the aged now house 6,500 persons, it was stressed.
Mr. Beckelman said that currently more than half of the JDC annual budget is spent in Israel through Malben and that the remainder of the budget is spent in European and other countries for the rehabilitation of Jews now living there. One of its major responsibilities outside Israel, Mr. Beckelman declared. was its work among North African Jewish youth for whom it has established health, educational and training institutions.
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