Never before has this city been so crowded with foreign tourists as it is today, on the eve of the opening of the second Maccabiad in which 1,200 Jewish athletes from twenty-seven different countries are competing for world championship titles in boxing, fencing, tennis, wrestling and other sports.
More than 3,000 members of the World Maccabi Sports Organization landed in Jaffa today on steamers from Italy, Greece, Rumania and France. They were greeted at the pier with bands and formed a striking spectacle as they marched in uniform from the Jaffa pier into the heart of Tel Aviv.
HUNT FOR LODGINGS
A mad hunt for lodgings started here today by thousands of visitors since there are no rooms for guests left in the hotels. The number of tourists arriving at Tel Aviv to witness the Maccabiad games was estimated today at close to 40,000.
The city was thronged today with visitors in the colorful uniforms of the teams which added gayety to the decorated streets. Among the foreign guests are also many non-Jews who have come to witness the world Jewish olympics.
The Betar, the Revisionist youth organization, was excluded today from participation in the Maccabiad. The Hapoel, the Jewish Laborite sports organization of Palestine, announced today that it will definitely not participate in the Maccabiad “under the present circumstances.” It consented, however, to participate in the opening ceremony on Tuesday.
MELCHETT IN CONFERENCE
Lord Melchett, president of the World Maccabi Sports Organization, who is here to open the Maccabiad tomorrow, conferred today with leading members of the Zionist Executive and of the Laborite party in order to eliminate the differences existing between the Maccabi and the Hapoel sports clubs. Lord Melchett hopes to induce the Hapoel eventually to participate in the Maccabiad.
A procession of athletes participating in the Maccabiad which was to have been held tomorrow was prohibited by the Palestine authorities, who apparently fear that such
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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.
