150 Jewish Leaders to Meet with Israeli Officials on Economic Needs

Prime Minister Golda Meir of Israel has invited 150 prominent business and communal leaders from the United States, Canada and Latin America to an extraordinary conference on Israel’s economic needs which will be held in Jerusalem from Jan. 30 through Feb. 1. Announcement of the forthcoming meeting was made by Ira Guilden, of New York, president of the Israel Bond Organization under whose auspices the conference will be held.

The three-day conference has been convened by Mrs. Meir in order to deal with Israel’s immediate and long-range economic problems, and to find ways to expand and strengthen Israel’s economy during 1972 in the face of the ongoing crisis on its borders. The US members of the conference will be headed by Guilden, Sam Rothberg, general chairman of the Israel Bond Organization, and Leo Bernstein, its executive vice-president. The conferees will be the first representatives of Jewish communities from abroad to meet with members of the government in Israel in 1972 to review Israel’s position in terms of its economic needs, Guilden said.

In her letter of invitation, Mrs. Meir indicated that the purpose of the conference was to give a select group of Jewish leaders “an intimate knowledge of the magnitude of Israel’s problems at the present time.” Guilden said the conference was expected to result in a plan of accelerated action for the unprecedented sale of $450 million of Israel Bonds in Jewish communities throughout the United States, Canada and other countries of the free world in 1972. The 1971 Israel Bond campaign produced a record sale of $251.6 million.