The United Jewish Appeal today concluded its two day National Action Conference with an announcement that $40,350,000 in cash has been raised during the first half-year of its campaign, including $15,000,000 presented by leaders from numerous communities at the final session this morning. More than 750 leaders of UJA campaign units from all parts of the country participated in the conference.
The mid-year total of cash gave the UJA $32,250,000 for its regular campaign in behalf of the United Israel Appeal, Joint Distribution Committee and New York Association for New Americans, and $8,100,000 for its Special Survival Fund to make possible this year’s resettlement in Israel of the tens of thousands of Jews streaming into it from troubled North Africa.
Despite this near record mobilization of cash, the delegates are endorsement to an extraordinary project for securing a second $40,000,000, this to be borrowed from the country’s principal Jewish communities. The endorsement was given “to help the UJA keep pace with sharply rising humanitarian needs in Israel and North Africa.” This endorsement came after a report on the Jewish position in North Africa which told of Jews being kidnapped for ransom, the looting of Jewish shops and the sharp worsening of the Jewish economic lot.
Moses A. Leavitt, executive vice-chairman of the Joint Distribution Committee who returned several days ago from visits to Morocco and Tunisia, told the delegates that “while many of the Moslem leaders have expressed a concern for the rights of the Jewish minority, the Jews of North Africa are filled with anxiety and apprehension as a result of the statements made by extreme and irresponsible elements.
“No one questions the sincerity of the leaders in Morocco and Tunisia when they say that the Jewish minorities will receive the same rights and privileges as the rest of the population, “Mr. Leavitt declared. “These assurances, however, do not satisfy the Jews when at the very same time no stop is put to the looting of Jewish stores and the kidnapping for ransom of leading Jewish personalities.
In addition, he said, “economic conditions have worsened considerably, particularly in Morocco, during it is transitional period when the governmental apparatus is being taken over from the French authorities. The Jews feel the economic parch more severely because the bulk of the Jewish population lives, and has always lived, on the verge of need and want. As a result.” Mr. Leavitt emphasized. “the urge to emigrate has become much more widespread than previously.”
Edward M. M. Warburg, the UJA president, who presided at the final session, told the delegates that “not since Hitler’s attack upon the Jews of Europe have so many Jews been in danger and in need of help.” He cited in particular “the danger of attack that faces Israel’s people, including hundreds of thousands of refugees who fled to Israel because they were facing attack elsewhere, and the tension in North Africa which has led thousands of Jews to ask for resettlement in the new State.”
The $40,000,000 loan project, which the delegates approved, is headed by Dewey D. Stone of Brockton, as well as Morris W. Berinstein, of Syracuse. N. Y. Both are national chairmen of the UJA. The loans are being sought for periods ranging up to five year and will be repaid out of anticipated future proceeds.
ROSENWALD, FRIEDMAN STRESS IMMEDIATE NEEDS; BEN GURION APPEALS FOR AID
William Rosenwald, general chairman of the UJA. addressing the conference last night, declared that “North Africa continues to be the area of tension and turmoil and of greatest concern, this due in part to Egyptian funds and propaganda which have been whipping up animosity there. From North Africa.” Mr. Rosenwald declared. “more Jews than ever before are asking for help to leave for Israel.” Beginning with last October, when the Egyptian arms deal was revealed, the people of Israel stepped up the rate of immigration from 30,000 to 45,000 annually,” Mr. Rosenwald reported. “Actually this immigration has been proceeding at that rate of 50,000 annually, and last month it rose to a rate of 60,000 annually,” he said.
Rabbi Herbert A. Friedman, UJA executive vice chairman, told the delegates that while moves for Arab-Israel peace are welcome, all would be a mistake in the light of what is actually happening on the borders of Israel to lull ourselves into a false sense of security.” The recent UN ease-fire, Rabbi Friedman stag, and the statement by the Russians that they would help contribute to a settlement of the Arab-Israel conflict are not enough to warrant a relaxation of watchfulness and concern. He pointed to “implacable hatred of Israel and the huge preponderance of arms the Arabs now possess from the Soviet arsenel” as prohibiting a let-down of what he termed “American. Jewish’s guard.”
Rabbi Friedman listed three immediate goals which he urged all American Jews to fulfill through the UJA. He gave these as the immediate goals facing American Jews and the UJA: 1. Helping Israel’s people through the present period of danger. 2. The rescue of as many Jews from North Africa as possible, white there is still time. 3. Constance Vigilance of the Soviet sphere with respect to its treatment of the more than 2,500,000 Jews living there.
The conference was also addressed by Col. Chaim Herzog. Commander of the Jerusalem Military District of Israel’s defense forces. He said that the United Nations ceasefire has made “little or no difference” to the Arabs and that they are continuing their border violations, killing and wounding Israelis.
Israel Premier David Ben Gurion, in a cable to the conference, told the assembled Jewish leaders that “the atmosphere of peril” will prevail this summer in Israel with even greater intensity than before. “We have given our solemn word to abide by the wish of the United Nations for a cease-fire,” Mr. Ben Gurion declared. “But we have made it clear that if we are attacked, we will strike back with all our might and every fiber of our being. We hope that this attack will never come. But we are faced by a grave crisis now that the Arab States have acquired considerable quantities of modern arms from Czechoslovakia, which they intend to use against us.”
Mr. Ben Gurion called upon “the great and devoted men and women who compose the United Jewish Appeal, to maintain their vigilance “especially during the summer now unfolding.” He called for a continuation through the UJA of their “superb efforts in behalf of our fellow Jews in North Africa, and in support of the many thousands of immigrants who have come to us in the past and for whom our gates must remain open. Your faith in us.” he declared, “is one of our greatest strengths.”
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.
