Lebanese Christian Woman Donates $3000 to Israel Voluntary Fund

The Israel Voluntary Defense Fund has received a donation of $3000 from a Lebanese Christian woman. She sent in a check saying that her brother had been treated at the “good fence” on the Israel-Lebanon border.

The fund has also announced the receipt of the largest single donation, IL 300,000. It came from Shmuel and Yocheved Aharonowitz, the parents of Yitzhak Aharonowitz who was the captain of the Exodus, the famed ship that sought to bring in illegal immigrants to Palestine in 1947. The Aharonowitz’s said their four children are well off and they don’t need the money which was deposited in a bank.

Contributions to the fund, which goes for scientific development for the Israel Defense Force, went into high gear after the Israeli rescue mission at Uganda’s Entebbe Airport last year and continue to flow in.

Israeli youth movements are contributing the funds they earn from their annual week of work on kibbutzim and student associations are collecting money on campuses. At least 65 kibbutzim have already contributed to the fund and workers in new immigrant towns have donated almost IL 250,000. Kibbutzim also have decided to double any contribution, that is for any IL 100 contributed, the kibbutzim will contribute IL 200.

Many Israeli artists have contributed their works to the fund and former Premier Golda Meir heads a committee to sell them. Contributions also come in from abroad. One group of Jewish youngsters from abroad in sending in a donation requested that the receipt be in Hebrew. Meanwhile, Moshe Gilboa, who heads the fund, has announced that contributions from now on will be tax deductible.