JDC Assisted 323,000 Individuals in 25 Countries at Cost of $23,832,000 in 1969

The Joint Distribution Committee assisted 323,000 men, women and children in 25 countries at a cost of $23.832.000 last year, it was reported here by Samuel L. Haber, the agency’s executive vice-chairman. A report released yesterday by the JDC stated that its program concentrated on Europe, North Africa and Israel. The agency said it was shut out of the Arab countries, but operates in Rumania and Yugoslavia where it assists more than 16,000 Jews in these two countries. Expenditures in Europe accounted for more than a third of the allocations, with about 173,000 Jews being assisted. In the Moslem countries, which accounted for nearly one-fifth of the 1969 budget, the JDC program aided almost 45,000 individuals, mostly children and young people. Its programs in Israel are carried out in institutions devoted to ill and elderly immigrants. The JDC reported it has been able to operate with little hindrance in Iran, Tunisia and Morocco. Mr. Haber reported that thousands of Polish Jews who were forced to flee their country after the Six-Day War have received help from the agency. He added that the needs “of tens of thousands of aged, ill and needy Jews” in other East and West European countries remains “just as compelling” today. Louis Broida, JDC chairman, stated in his introductory message to the report, that “1969 continued to be a year of anguish for Jews in need throughout the world.”