Israeli Finance Minister Pinhas Sapir returned to Israel today after a round of appearances in major American cities on behalf of the 1972 campaign of the United Jewish Appeal and the Israel Bond Organization. Highlighting his two-week tour was a dramatic closed circuit radio broadcast from New York on Feb. 6 to thousands of Jewish community leaders in 130 cities throughout the country. Sapir answered questions following an address by Louis Pincus, Chairmen of the Jewish Agency. The increased immigration of the Jews from the Soviet Union was the principal focus of Sapir’s and Pincus’ remarks.
The broadcast also included an address by UJA General Chairman Paul Zuckerman. The closed circuit broadcast was chaired by Max M. Fisher, president of the Council of Jewish Federations and Welfare Funds. “With 70,000 new immigrants expected in Israel in 1972 this campaign becomes one of the most critical in the history of the UJA,” Zuckerman said. “This new development is a blessing–but an expensive one. The people of Israel are more hard-pressed than ever to pay the price of their survival,” he said. “The cost of absorbing these new immigrants so that they may have full and useful lives, in freedom, must be borne in large measure by the Jews of the United States through the UJA.”
Zuckerman, commenting today on the appearance of Israel’s Defense Minister Moshe Dayan at major UJA dinners said his presence and his urgent message “set new levels of giving at Pace Setters’ meetings in the three largest Jewish communities in the United States. The response of the leaders present at these meetings augers well for the success of the campaign in these critical times.” Dayan returned to Israel several days ago.
CORRECTION
Due to an error in transmission the Wednesday Daily News Bulletin stated that the reimbursement to Israel for the Mirage jets will be $137 million. The correct figure should have been $76 million.
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.
