Governor Nelson A. Rockefeller of New York proclaimed the period of April 29-May 4 as “Israel Independence Week” in this state. “We look upon the State of Israel as one of our most cherished allies,” the Governor declared in his proclamation. “We heartily join our Jewish fellow citizens in the most fervent prayers for just and lasting peace in the Middle East. We join them too in the warmest admiration for what the Israelis have accomplished by the building of a modern, enlightened state in only two decades.” The Governor will read the proclamation tomorrow at ceremonies in his New York City office to an assemblage including Consul General Michael Arnon of Israel.
A proclamation designating May 5 as “Salute to Israel Day” was issued by Mayor Sam Yorty, of Los Angeles. He and California’s Governor Ronald Reagan will personally deliver greetings to Israel on that day at the Jewish Federation council’s city-wide “Salute to Israel.”
In Washington, it was announced that Rabbi Saul I. Wisemon, Librarian at Philadelphia’s Dropsie College, will deliver the invocation before the U.S. House of Representatives when it marks Israel’s anniversary tomorrow.
U.S. SENATE LUNCHEON TO MARK ANNIVERSARY AND HONOR GEN. RABIN
About one-third of the members of the Senate will participate tomorrow in a luncheon at the Capitol Building, honoring Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin in celebration of the 20th anniversary of Israel’s independence. The co-hosts are Sen. Joseph S. Clark, Pennsylvania Democrat, and Sen. Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican.
Sen. Clark said the event will be especially significant because of the new ambassador’s role as commander-in-chief of the Israeli armed forces during the Six-Day War. He lauded Israel as “more than ever before an oasis of democracy in the Middle East and a nation that deserves every kind of support — economic, political, and military — that the United States can possibly extend.”
JAVITS SAYS U.S. SHOULD DELIVER SUPERSONIC AIRCRAFT TO ISRAEL
Senator Jacob K. Javits, New York Republican, urged here tonight that the United States guarantee future deliveries to Israel of sophisticated supersonic aircraft so that she can keep pace with the continuing rearmament of the Arab states by the Soviet Union. Senator Javits also called for increased efforts to bring an end to the Middle East arms race. The glimmerings of a Vietnam peace breakthrough and U.S.-Soviet agreement to the atomic non-proliferation draft treaty may indicate the possibility of progress in that direction, he said.
Senator Javits was the principal speaker at an Israel Independence Day celebration at Philharmonic Hall, Lincoln Center, sponsored by the American Zionist Council. Ambassador Yitzhak Rabin, Israel’s Ambassador to the United States, was guest of honor. Messages of greeting were received from Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey and Senator Robert F. Kennedy, of New York.
Addressing a dinner in San Francisco of the Northern Pacific region of the Zionist Organization of America held in his honor, observing Israel’s 20th anniversary. Dr. Emanuel Neumann said that “we must prepare our people and steel ourselves to face whatever trials or struggles that may still lie ahead.” He said that every Zionist family should send one of its members on aliyah to Israel.
Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, vice president of the Israel Bond Organization, announced that more than 600 meetings of various kinds, from breakfast and parlor meetings to mass rallies will be held under Bond Organization auspices during the month of May to celebrate Israel’s 20th anniversary.
Jacques Torczyner, president of the Zionist Organization of America, in a special anniversary message, appealed to the great powers of the world to “see to it that direct negotiations between Israel and the Arabs begin” He said that “until then, we assure Israel of our full support in standing fast against all those who want it to give up the fruits of its victory without a permanent peace settlement.”
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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.
