The Jewish Agency issued today a “statement of needs” for 1973 amounting to $785 million for its multiple activities in Israel. Louis A. Pincus, chairman of the Jewish Agency Executive, said at a press conference afterwards that the increased needs stemmed from an anticipated 15 percent rise in immigration next year. He estimated the likely total of immigrants arriving in 1972 at 60,000.
The news conference was called to report details of the deliberations of the Jewish Agency’s Board of Governors which has been meeting here for the past two days. The board approved a $465 million budget for 1972 but it is “too early” to project figures for the 1973 budget according to Moshe Rivlin, Jewish Agency Director General. Rivlin said increased needs in housing and social services contributed to increasing the Agency’s financial burden next year.
Housing costs topped the list in the statement of needs at $284 million. Immigration costs were next at $89 million. The Jewish Agency’s 1972 budget allocated $150 million for housing and $57 million for immigration. Pincus announced the appointment of a committee by the Board of Governors to study the financial crisis afflicting Israeli universities which receive a major portion of their funds from the Jewish Agency.
Max Fisher of Detroit, chairman of the Board of Governors said the committee would go a long way toward clearing up “the confusion that has arisen around the world as to what the priorities of the universities’ spending ought to be.” Fisher said “We’re not raising enough money around the world” and announced two steps to improve fund-raising efforts. He said that on Dec. 1, 25 pro- fessional fund-raisers from around the world will gather for a three-month course in fund-raising, and 25 national campaign chairmen from various countries will meet in London Nov. 27 to discuss, for the first time around the same table, ways to reach the Jewish Agency’s fund-raising goals. Fisher was optimistic about the chances for success this year because of what he described as a “new sense of unity” at the Board of Governors meeting. He attributed the unity to the assembling of Zionists and non-Zionists into the reconstituted Jewish Agency now in its second year.
JTA has documented Jewish history in real-time for over a century. Keep our journalism strong by joining us in supporting independent, award-winning reporting.
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.
