Paul Zuckerman, general chairman of the United Jewish Appeal, reported here today that UJA income on the 1972 campaign–a record total of $270 million–was the highest in the 33 years of UJA history. He said it was $30 million more than the total in 1967, the year of the Six-Day War. He spoke at a press conference here.
Hailing the “maturity” of American Jewry, he said the 1972 results constituted “a remarkable achievement in a time when it is quiet on Israel’s frontiers,” such “a response of American Jewry to the needs of the people of Israel.” He also denounced the higher exit charges imposed by the Soviets on Russian Jewish scientists on Aug. 3.
“While I can assure you that I consider this a violation of the human rights of Soviet Jews, we, American Jewry, will never let it happen that a Jew anywhere in the world has to remain where he is unwelcome,” Zuckerman declared. He said the new Soviet policy was slavery such as existed in America 200 years ago. He said he expected the world community “to rise in protest at this obnoxious policy of selling people on the open market and I see it as a challenge to the American Jewish community.”
He said 200 American Jewish leaders would come to Israel at the end of this month at the invitation of Premier Golda Meir to prepare the 1973 UJA campaign. The annual UJA mission this year will consist of 400 leaders from the United States, arriving here Oct. 2. He also announced plans to bring the message of Israel’s needs to more than 100 Jewish communities in the United States through use of a live satellite broadcast. He added that “we expect to do better in 1973 than we did this year.”
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.
