Rabin to Uja; Solid Base of Understanding Between U.s., Israel

Premier Yitzhak Rabin told a special United Jewish Appeal meeting here last Thursday that his visit with President Carter symbolized the unique relationship that exists between the United States and Israel.

“There is a solid basis of understanding between our two peoples,” he told 900 campaign leaders from 78 communities at a meeting co-sponsored by the UJA and the New York UJA-Federation of Jewish Philanthropies Joint Campaign of New York.

“Although we have economic and social problems in Israel today, when we look at them from a Jewish perspective, we realize that a lot has been achieved,” Rabin stressed, “If we understand what the Jewish people have done–if we understand that our real strength is in our partnership–then we can overcome all difficulties. There are no limits to what we can do together. We can–and we must–fulfill the destiny which Jewish history has bestowed on our generation.”

Frank R. Lautenberg, UJA general chairman, and Laurence A. Tisch, board chairman of the UJA-Federation Joint Campaign, also addressed the meeting, stressing the importance of recent events to the American Jewish community. Referring to the hostages then still held by Hanafi Moslem terrorists at B’nai B’rith headquarters in Washington, Lautenberg noted: “Whatever the issues, Jews are still the scapegoats. Yet as circumstances change, we must continue to walk steadily.” He announced that the 1977 UJA campaign is currently running at an increase of 14 percent over 1976.

Reporting on the Joint Campaign in New York, Tisch noted that it is presently running well ahead of 1976. He stressed the need for increased cash collections, “as much as possible, as soon as possible” and referred both to the increased activity of the Joint Distribution Committee among victims of the earthquake in Rumania and to increased Jewish need in New York City due to cutbacks in public funding creating the greatest period of deprivation since the depression of the 1930s.