The Jewish Agency Assembly approved a $413 million budget for fiscal 1985-86 before the close of its annual meeting here last week, plus an additional $48 million for Project Renewal.
The Assembly urged Jewish communities abroad to continue their efforts until all deprived neighborhoods in Israel are rehabilitated. It also decided to promote new economic projects in slum neighborhoods and development towns where unemployment is high.
Other decisions were to refrain from competitive fundraising. All fundraising, except for the women’s organizations, will be conducted by the United Jewish Appeal in the U.S. and the United Israel Appeal elsewhere. All Jewish Agency departments were instructed to offer their services without giving preferential treatment to any trend in Judaism.
With respect to immigration and absorption, the Assembly decided to consider ways to increase the involvement of new immigrant associations in Israel.
One delegate, John Najmann of London, urged greater efforts to promote the immigration of wealthy Jews to Israel. He told the plenary session of the Assembly that potential wealthy immigrants should be invited to Israel to see they can enjoy living standards to which they are accustomed. They should be told, he said, that life in Israel is stimulating, that schools and hospitals are good and it is safe to walk in the streets at night. “I feel that in the past there has been a tendency to present Israel as a stretcher case rather than the success story it is,” Najmann said.
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