Henry Morgenthau, Jr., general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, landed “somewhere in Israel” early today aboard an Israeli airliner. He was accompanied by Curtis Roosevelt Boettiger, the young grandson of the late President, who was described by Morgenthau as the representative of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt.
The plane was met by Eliezer Kaplan, Israeli Minister of Finance, David Remez, Israeli Minister of Communications, Berl Looker, chairmen of the executive of the Jewish Agency, and It. Col. Ben-Artzi, representing the Israeli Army. Immediately upon landing, Morgenthau inspected a guard of honor which snapped to attention as he stepped down from the plane. Escorted by military police on motorcycles, the former Secretary of the Treasury went to the home of President Weizmann where he will remain as a guest during his visit here.
In a statement issued upon his landing Morgenthau said: “The Jews of America are proud of the heroism and courage of their fellow Jews of Israel. Israel’s struggle for independence has greatly increased the dignity and stature of Jew everywhere. “I am convinced that the overwhelming majority of the American people have a genuine sympathy of the new Jewish state and for Israeli’s war of independence, which recalls to many Americans the birth of their own nation when Washington was facing superior forces. Your struggle here for freedom is a part of the war fought to destroy Nazism and fascism. It concerns all freedom-loving peoples and is a test of the United Nations. I hope my government will play the fullest role in the prompt establishment of peace in Israel on the basis of justice.
“Whatever the events of the future may be, I want to assure you that American Jews are determined to give you every support so that you may achieve your objectives, not only for the Jews now in Israel but also for the hundreds of thousands in Europe whose future depends on Israel. I am happy to have brought with me young Curtis Roosevelt Boettiger, the late President’s grandson, who has come as the special representative of Mrs. Eleanor Roosevelt, who is keenly interested in the successful establishment of the Jewish state as a stronghold of democracy in the Middle East.”
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