With the State of New York and the City of New York participating officially, the Jewish community of New York started today to celebrate the 18th anniversary of modern Israel’s rebirth. Israel’s formal Independence Day observance is to be marked officially tomorrow.
Gov. Nelson A. Rockefeller and Mayor John V. Lindsay will proclaim Israel Independence Day and Israel Independence Week formally, at their respective offices, tomorrow. The City Council will mark the observance at its next meeting, Tuesday, when a special resolution on the subject will be presented by City Council president Frank O’Connor. Among the special observances scheduled for tomorrow are a reception for United Nations diplomats, to be given by Ambassador Michael Comay, Israel’s permanent representative to the U.N.; another by Israeli Consul-General Michael Arnon; and one sponsored by the Jewish Agency-American Section jointly with the American Zionist Council.
In the auditorium of Hunter College, here, the event was celebrated tonight by the Council of Organizations of the United Jewish Appeal of Greater New York. More than 3, 000 delegates from fraternal and benevolent organizations, with a total membership of 250, 000, attended that event, where the principal speakers were Israel’s envoy to Washington, Ambassador Avraham Harman, and Sen. Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican and senior U.S. Senator from this state.
Samuel Blitz, executive vice-president of the Greater New York UJA, read at the Hunter College celebration a letter from Vice-President Hubert H. Humphrey, who congratulated Israel on “the hard-won independence” gained by the Jewish State in 1948. Mr. Humphrey also lauded the UJA. “To UJA,” he declared, “goes deserved thanks — not only of members of the Jewish faith, but of all men and women of good will who admire its countless good works.”
A highlight of the Hunter College event was the presentation of a plaque to former Judge Jonah J. Goldstein, chairman of the Council of Organizations, on the occasion of his 80th birthday.
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