In response to an urgent call for aid to Israel, more than 600 New York business, civic and Jewish religious and communal leaders last night purchased a record-breaking sum of more than $20 million in State of Israel Bonds at a dinner in the Plaza Hotel. Ambassador Jacob Barmore, Minister Plenipotentiary in the Permanent Mission of Israel to the United Nations, told the gathering: “Don’t be deluded….We are fighting for our survival. What will happen to us (Israel) will not depend on a resolution adopted by the United Nations or the Security Council. It will depend on your commitment to the Jewish cause.”
The event resulted in the highest sum in Israel Bond sales ever attained at a single event since the inception of the drive in 1951 in New York City. The amount, which was announced by former Congressman Herbert Tenzer, dinner chairman, reflected the concern of New York’s Jewish community for Israel. More than 300 Israel Bond rallies have been held in the metropolitan area since the start of the fourth war in Israel’s 25-year history.
Jack D. Weiler, prominent New York Jewish communal leader who is secretary-treasurer of the Israel Bond Organization, was guest of honor at the event which was sponsored by the executive committee of the Greater New York Committee for State of Israel Bonds, under the chairmanship of Samuel Neaman, chairman and chief executive officer of McCrory Corporation. Weiler, who was presented with a Silver Israel Anniversary Award by Ira Guilden, chairman of the Bond’s Board of Governors, said that he had an “unshakeable faith in Israel” and he was deeply gratified in being able to “share in a small way in the rebirth of our people.”
Sam Rothberg, general chairman of the Israel Bond Organization, declared that “when the Egyptians and Syrians launched their attack on Yom Kippur, their guns were not only aimed at Israel but against the entire Jewish people. It is not a question,” he said, “of whether we want to be involved. We have no choice. Every Jew is as much a target of this war as Israel itself. Therefore, it is up to every Jew to join the fight to defend and protect Israel. We are in an emergency in which every hour and every minute counts.”
Barmore, who substituted for Israeli Ambassador Simcha Dinitz, said that since the State of Israel was founded 25 years ago “our very right to exist has been questioned time and time again.” He declared that Israel is now “bleeding and bleeding profusely….This is a battle for life and death for Israel.
The Israeli diplomat, who came to the dinner directly from the United Nations, spoke emotionally about the walkout of Soviet Ambassador Yakov Malik when Israeli Ambassador Yosef Tekoah tried to extend his condolences for Soviet civilians reportedly killed in the bombing of Damascus. Barmore said Malik has demonstrated some of the most “rabid anti-Semitism” seen at the UN. He said Tekoah was right in presenting his condolences but no one at the UN was expressing condolences for Israeli civilians killed by missiles coming from Syria.
DEMONSTRATIONS CONTINUE THROUGHOUT WORLD
Meanwhile, demonstrations, mobilizations and appeals for the aid of Israel continued to mount in this country and abroad. In Paris over 20,000 persons rallied last night on behalf of Israel at a meeting organized by the Paris “Committee for the Support of Israel.” Daniel Mayer, president of the Human Rights League, attacked French Foreign Minister Michel Jobert who had earlier said one could not call aggressors those states which try to recover territory which belongs to them. “Such a statement is not diplomacy but dishonor,” Mayer said.
Jean-Pierre Bloch, president of the International League Against Racism and Anti-Semitism (LICA) said Jobert’s statement was the same as Hitler’s who said “we’re going home” when entering the Rhineland in 1938. Earlier Socialist opposition leader Francois Mitterand strongly criticized the French government’s position on the Middle East war and called Jobert’s statements “cynical and esoteric.”
In Brussels 15 Belgian Jewish students were injured today at the University of Brussels when fights broke out between them and Arab students. The fighting took place when the Jewish students organized, for the third consecutive day, a meeting at the “Cite Universitaire” to express their solidarity with Israel. Some 150 Jewish students were attacked by the Arabs, who were joined by non-students and who were armed with chairs, sticks, bottles and clubs. The injured students were taken to the hospital.
In Johannesburg 2000 jam-packed the Zionist Center last night in solidarity with Israel and to protest the Austrian surrender to Arab terrorist aggression. Board of Deputies president Maurice Porter gave assurance that in the present crisis the Jewish community was totally united. He said that the South African Jewish community was mobilized in an emergency campaign to raise cash and that large sums have already been spontaneously offered. Then were also mass rallies in other South African cities.
In Oslo, Gen. Odd Bull, former commander of the UN observer group in the Middle East, said that the current fighting in the Middle East seems to be the result of a combined military operation launched by Egypt and Syria which had planned an all-out campaign.
In New York Christian leaders meeting at the American Jewish Committee’s national headquarters yesterday, deplored the attack by Egypt and Syria on “the right of Israel to live in peace and security” and termed the attack “not only a threat to Israel but to world peace.” The Catholic and Protestant clergymen, who were meeting to discuss the AJCommittee’s new Christian Visitors to Israel Tour, declared they would not be deterred from their determination to work for a dialogue between Israel and the Arabs, particularly the Palestinians by the present conflict.
In Los Angeles, Victor M. Carter, chairman of the Board of Governors of the Tel Aviv University and emergency chairman of the State of Israel Bonds announced today that the Tel Aviv University Decennial Festival Dinner that had been scheduled for Oct. 14 had been cancelled. He said that the cancellation was due to “the cowardly and sacrilegious attack by Egypt and Syria upon the State of Israel on the holiest day of the Jewish year, and in recognition of Israel’s urgent need for immediate financial assistance in this hour of crisis.” The dinner was to have been addressed by world famous scientists, Congressmen and Ambassador Simcha Dinitz.
Carter, a member of the JTA Board of Directors, said: “In place of the Decennial Dinner, a Community Emergency Assembly will now be held in behalf of State of Israel Bonds at the Century Plaza Hotel on the same date.” Announcing that Dinitz and Sen. Henry M. Jackson have agreed to speak at the Emergency Assembly, Carter declared: “We urge the Jewish community of Los Angeles to turn out en masse for the Emergency Assembly, and to buy Israel Bonds to the limit of its individual means. Those who wish to support the Tel Aviv University may enjoy a double mitzvah by purchasing Israel Bonds and contributing them to the Tel Aviv University.”
HECTIC ACTIVITIES IN COMMUNITIES
In Detroit, every organization and synagogue has held fund-raising campaigns. There were rallies at Wayne State University and the University of Michigan. At the latter there were over 1000 students who raised $7000. A partial fast day was called today by the Council of Orthodox Rabbis and on Sunday there will be a city-wide solidarity rally under the auspices of the Jewish Community Council.
In Philadelphia where some 20,000 persons attended a rally last night at Kennedy Plaza, Mayor Frank Rizzo said he would ask the City Council to buy $1 million in Israel Bonds. He was followed by City Council President George Schwartz who said he would try to speed the resolution through the Council. In Maryland, some 6000 persons spilled out into the street as part of an overflow crowd attending a rally at Ohr Kodesh Congregation in Chevy Chase organized by the Jewish Community Council of Greater Washington.
In Dayton, Ohio the response of the Jewish community in the first nine hours of the appeal to raise cash brought in $750,000 with Jews and non-Jews donating. There were also donations of blood and plasma. At Kent State University in Ohio some 300 students held a solidarity rally. At Case Western Reserve University in Ohio 350 students rallied.
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.
