Two Israel Bond labor-management dinners in honor of American Black trade union leaders held in Norfolk, Virginia and Sacramento, California resulted in Bond sales totaling more than $1.4 million.
The Norfolk dinner, which paid tribute to Myles E. Billups, Sr., international vice-president of the International Longshoremen’s Association, AFL-CIO, produced in excess of $1 million for Israel’s economic development. The Sacramento testimonial honored Ms. Joan Allen, regional director of the Hospital and Institutional Workers Local 250 of the Service Employees International Union. AFL-CIO was responsible for the sale of more than $400,000 in Israel Bonds.
Bayard Rustin, noted civil rights leader and founder of the Black Americans to Support Israel Committee (BASIC), was the principal speaker at the tribute to Ms, Allen. In his address, he said, “We have an obligation to defend democracy and Israel is the only democracy left in the Middle East.” He also observed that “Israel is surrounded by dictatorships and that it has resisted them from ancient times to Hitler.”
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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.
