A gift from the United States House Committee on Foreign Affairs, a bust of the late Congressman Sol Bloom, was presented today to the Negev Institute in Israel at ceremonies dedicating the institute’s new Sol Booom Auditorium. United States Ambassador Walworth Barbour presented the gift in behalf of the Foreign Affairs Committee to Abba Eban, Israel’s Minister of Education and Culture.
The institute, which is devoted to the studies of desert economy, agriculture, development of new settlements and desalination, is a project of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation. The auditorium is a gift to the institute from the Sol Bloom Family Foundation, which made $50,000 available for this purpose and $25,000 for an institute scholarship program. The bust will occupy a permanent place in the auditorium. The institute is located near the Sde Boker Kibbutz.
In making the gift, Rep. Thomas E. Morgan (D.-Pa.), chairman of the House Committee on Foreign Affairs, noted Rep. Bloom’s distinguished service as its chairman for many years. He said: “We are privileged to honor our late colleague and friend, Congressman Bloom, in this manner. He served his country well and contributed much to the cause of world peace.”
(In a statement from the New York office of the America-Israel Cultural Foundation, Samuel Rubin, president, said: “The new auditorium is a valuable addition to the institute which will help advance the important work being done in the Negev which will benefit not only Israel but other nations as well.”)
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