Premier Golda Meir’s first visit to Florida as Israel’s head of state triggered an unprecedented response last night to Israel’s economic needs, bringing about a record breaking initial sale of $136.3 million in Israel Bonds toward a 1973 goal of $360 million, at the Bond’s inaugural dinner.
More than 3000 Jewish leaders from the United States and Canada purchased a minimum of $2500 per couple in Israel Bonds in what the dinner chairman, Jacob M. Arvey of Chicago, characterized as “an unparalleled outpouring of love and affection for the Prime Minister and a resounding affirmation of confidence and moral and material support for the people of Israel.”
Ira Guilden, president of the Israel Bond campaign, said the $360 million 1973 goal represented 60 percent of Israel’s development budget of $618 million for the year. He noted that this budget provided for every phase of the country’s economic development.
Prior to the dinner session, Leo Bernstein, executive vice-president of the Bond Organization, summed up the objectives of the 1973 campaign as aiding the expansion of Israel’s economy to provide jobs for an expected 70,000 immigrants this year; improving the economic position of the disadvantaged section of Israel’s population; and stimulating the development of industry and exports to bring Israel closer to the goal of economic independence.
ELABORATE SECURITY FOR PREMIER
The inaugural dinner was a tribute to Sam Rothberg, general chairman and principal founder of the Bond Organization which has produced more than $2.2 billion in bond sales for Israel since its inception in 1951. Israel’s Finance Minister, Pin has Sapir, lauded Rothberg in a cabled message from Jerusalem. Noting Rothberg’s nearly 30 years of “devoted efforts” in Israel’s behalf, Sapir said he was totally committed to the survival of the Jewish people and the building of Israel.
Elaborate security precautions surrounded Premier Meir’s arrival here Friday evening. Official welcoming ceremonies reserved for visiting foreign dignitaries were eliminated. Mrs. Meir was greeted at Miami Airport by Rothberg, Guilden, Bernstein and Julian B. Venezky, national chairman for regions of the bond drive. Strict security precautions were repeated at the dinner. All guests were double checked by security officers before being permitted to enter the grand ballroom.
The dinner was the wind-up of the Bond Organization’s four-day Inaugural Conference. At a breakfast session Friday morning, sponsored by the Zionist Organization of America, Rabbi Irving Lehrman, vice-president of the ZOA said that to appreciate Israel’s 25th anniversary, “we have to think in terms of what the plight of the Jews of Europe was before there was a State of Israel.” Mortimer May of Nashville, dean of the American Zionist movement and honorary chairman of the Israel Bond cabinet of the ZOA, was honored for his pioneering efforts in helping to establish settlements in Palestine prior to statehood.
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