Yigal Allon, Israel’s Labor Minister, appealed today to Jewish university graduates throughout the world to settle in Israel, where ample opportunities existed for their talents.
He made the proposal at the opening session of the 30th Congress of the World Union of Jewish Students, attended by 50 delegates and observers from 20 countries. He referred to the current situation in South Africa, asserting there was no future for South African Jewry because Jews could not be citizens of a country which proclaimed racism as the law of the land. He added that it was “disconcerting” that Jewish emigrants from that country were settling in the United States, Britain, Canada and Australia–but not in Israel.
Prof. Ernest D. Bergman of Hebrew University, the union’s honorary president, urged the delegates not to get bogged down in petty matters. They were greeted by Dr. Eliahu Elath, Hebrew University president; Major Mordechai Ish-Shalom, of Jerusalem; and Eliahu Dobkin, head of the Jewish Agency’s Youth and Hechalutz department. The Congress will end tomorrow with a visit to the Negev settlement of Sde Boker, for a discussion with former Premier David Ben-Gurion.
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