A record-breaking total of $270,404,750 in State of Israel Bonds for the economic development of Israel was sold in 1972 in the United States and other parts of the free world, it was reported this weekend by Sam Rothberg general chairman of the Israel Bond Organization. An additional $10 million was realized through Capital for Israel, he reported to a national conference of executives and managerial representatives of the Bond Organization. The 1972 sales figure, which exceeded the 1971 results by $19 million, brought the grand total of Israel Bond proceeds since the first issue was floated in 1951 to approximately $2.2 billion, Rothberg asserted.
Leo Bernstein, executive vice-president of the Israel Bond Organization, announced that plans for the 1973 campaign would be drawn up at a special conference called by Prime Minister Golda Meir, who has invited 150 top local and national Israel Bond leaders to meet with her and other Israeli leaders in Jerusalem. The Israel conference will be held Jan. 28-31.
Commenting on the results of last year, Bernstein emphasized that the proceeds from Bonds have been “a bulwark of Israel’s economic growth during the past twenty years. The economic development financed with the aid of Israel Bonds has made it possible for Israel to provide jobs and the opportunity for a self-sustaining existence to more than 45,000 Jews from Soviet Union who came to Israel during the past two years.”
Rothberg observed that the new sales record established in 1972 demonstrated that the Jewish community and many elements of the non-Jewish population “have confidence in Israel’s future as a country of expanding economic growth and stability in spite of the crisis and tension that have been so much a part of its existence.”
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.
