U. J. A. National Conference to Hear Reports on Refugee Problem

Jewish community leaders from all parts of the country will gather this week-end in New York to hear up-to-the-minute reports of the Jewish refugee problem and on the Middle East situation. They will be addressed by Israel Ambassador Abba Eban; Dr. Nahum Goldman, president of the Jewish Agency; Senator Lyndon B. Johnson, majority leader in the Upper House, and others.

The purpose of the two-day conference is to raise $50,000,000 in cash for the United Jewish Appeal from previously given pledges. In a statement issued today on the aims of the conference, William Rosenwald, general chairman of the UJA emphasized the growing needs of thousands of Jewish refugees who must be rescued from oppression and resettled in Israel and other free lands.

“It is sad but true that thousands of Jewish men, women and children are forced to wait in refugee reception centers in Europe and North Africa until we raise sufficient funds to transport them to new homes where they can begin new lives in freedom and hope, ” he declared. “The people of Israel literally are performing the impossible in their determination to take in every refugee who seeks shelter there. They are taxing themselves unmercifully; they are denying themselves things that we regard as basic; they are crowding up their schools, hospitals and other facilities to assist the newcomers.

“While we the Jews of America are not called upon to match the sacrifice of the people of Israel, we have a solemn responsibility in meeting this common burden,” Mr. Rosenwald pointed out. “Saving the lives of refugees from Europe and North Africa is a common problem which every Jewish individual should regard as a communal responsibility. All we now ask is for every person to honor his pledge to the UJA’s $100,000,000 Emergency Rescue Fund and the regular 1957 UJA campaign. What we now need, more than ever, is cash, not promises.”