The Jewish Agency will close its books at the end of 1949 with a deficit of $30,000,000, Dr. Nahum Goldmann, chairman of the American section of the Agency, revealed here today at a press conference. He said the problem of covering this deficit will be one of the major questions to be discussed at the forthcoming session of the Jewish Agency executive which opens in Jerusalem on January 12.
Dr. Goldmann, who will proceed to Israel within a few days to attend the Agency executive meeting, said that the money raised by the United Jewish Appeal in 1949 was only 10 percent below the total raised during the preceding year. He attributed this decrease not to any increasing apathy toward the causes supported by the U.J.A., nor to any deterioration in Zionist morale, but to the fact that the Silver-Morgenthau dispute resulted in a three-months delay in the launching of the U.J.A. drive.
As far as Israel is concerned, the U.J.A. campaign of 1949 had a less happy side as a result of the increased allocations which local Jewish federations and welfare funds deducted for their local needs, Dr. Goldmann stated. He claimed that some federations and welfare funds allocated for local purposes as much as 50 percent of the amounts raised by their campaigns.
Dr. Goldmann estimated that between 130,000 and 150,000 Jewish immigrants will enter Israel in 1950. This number, he said, will be increased in the event that agreement is reached with any of the Arab governments on permitting the emigration of Israel-bound Jews from their countries. He added that little further immigration is expected from the DP camps in Europe. The Jews remaining there, he stated, would likely emigrate to other countries. The Jewish Agency is closing its offices in these camps, he revealed.
The session of the Jewish Agency executive, Dr. Goldmann reported, will also devote much of its deliberations to the problem of the future of Zionism and the need for remolding the program of the Zionist movement. The relationship between the Jewish Agency and the Government of Israel will occupy a special place in the discussions, he emphasized.
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