President Johnson’s plans for the Great Society demonstrate the President’s “concern for the social and ethical principles which are the core of our Judeo-Christian heritage,” Vice President Hubert H. Humphrey told more than 2,000 American Jewish leaders here last night, at the concluding session of the international inaugural conference for Israel Bonds.
The three-day conference, which launched a campaign for the sale of $100,000,000 of Israel bonds this year, initiated the drive with initial subscriptions which, according to Samuel Rothberg, national chairman of the campaign, reached the peak amount of $24,700,000.
Lauding the Israel Bond undertaking, Mr. Humphrey linked the Bond effort with President Johnson’s Great Society by declaring that “the American tradition and the tradition of Israel have agreed not only on the possibility of building a society which might be called great, but also on the social and ethical foundation on which that society must rest,” The 1,500,000 subscribers to Israel bonds, he said, “have provided the pioneers of Israel with the tools to rebuild their homeland in peace and understanding, helping to construct a nation where freedom flourishes.”
Abraham A. Feinberg, president of the Bond Organization, presented Vice President Humphrey with the Human Freedom Award, a medallion mounted on a stone brought from the ancient fortress of Masada in Israel. Masada was the site in the Negev Desert where nearly 1,000 Jewish fighters staged their last stand against the Roman invaders, and committed mass suicide in the year 73 of the Common Era. That act, Mr. Feinberg noted, “has been a consecrated example of devotion to human freedom as the bedrock of our democracy and its mission of equality, liberty and justice for all.”
$43,000,000 WILL BE PAID OUT IN 1965 ON MATURING BONDS
The concluding conference session, before an overflow audience at a dinner at the Fontainebleau Hotel, also heard addresses by Israel’s Deputy Prime Minister Abba S. Eban and by Sir Isaac Wolfson, British industrialist and philanthropist. The latter, as guest of honor at the dinner, told the gathering that solidification of Israel’s economic foundation is essential not only for the survival of the Jewish State but also for “the spiritual survival of the Jewish people throughout the world.”
Mr. Eban outlined Israel’s plans for economic development, stressing the role of Israel bonds in helping his country achieve “a decisive breakthrough toward industrialization.” He took the occasion to appeal to nations friendly to Israel to “remain steadfast in preserving the defensive strength of Israel” as a means for preserving peace in the Middle East.
At an earlier seasion, Louis H. Boyar, chairman of the Israel Bonds Board of Governors, told the conference that Americans and Canadians who had invested previously in Israel bonds will receive $43,000,000 in redemption payments in 1965. He reported that, between May 1, 1963 and the end of 1964, Israel paid out $66,800,000 in maturing bonds. Mr. Rothberg told the same session that “the people of Israel are returning with interest the economic aid they are receiving in the form of leans from individual investors in the United States and other countries.”
BOND DRIVE TO COVER THIRD OF ISRAEL’S BUDGET, DR. SCHWARTZ REPORTS
Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, the Bond Organization’s vice-president, noted in another address that this year’s $100,000,000 “maximum effort” would constitute nearly a third of Israel’s total budget of $283,333,000. Israel bonds, he said, make up the most important source of investment funds for the development of Israel.
Major items in Israel’s development budget for next year, he reported, include more than $21,000,000 for agriculture; $23,000,000 for irrigation; nearly $34,000,000 for industry; over $50,000,000 for transportation; $31,700,000 for communications; and $82,300,000 for housing, most of that sum for the housing of immigrants in the new development zones in the Negev and in the central Galilee.
Dr. Max Nussbaum, president of the Zionist Organization of America, who spoke at a special session attended by ZOA members, cited Israel’s increasing reliance on Israel bonds to carry its development program forward.
Today, the Israel Bond Organization announced the names of its principal officers for 1965. They are: Mr. Feinberg, president; Mr. Boyar, chairman of the Board of Governors; Ira Guilden, national chairman; Mr. Rothberg, national campaign chairman; Dr. Joseph J. Schwartz, vice-president; Jack D. Weiler, secretary; Lawrence H. Laskey, chairman of the executive committee; Morris W. Berinstein, national chairman for trustees; Max Bressler, national chairman of Guardians; Mrs. Jan Peerce, national chairman of the Women’s Division; and Julian B. Venezky, national chairman for regions.
During the sessions here, the Women’s Division also launched its 1965 drive under the chairmanship of Mrs. Peerce. The principal guests of the division was Lady Edith Wolfson, joint chairman of the Children and Youth Aliyah Committee for Great Britain.
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.
