NYC Comptroller Alan G. Hevesi
(left) and luncheon chairman Brian
McLaughlin, president of the NYC
Central Labor Council. | ISRAEL BONDS
Thomas Van Arsdale
Raises $5 Mil for Israel Photos by Richard Lobell  ORE than 400 labor and management leaders of the electrical industry purchased $5,044,000 of Israel Bonds at a luncheon at the New York Hilton honoring Thomas Van Arsdale, business manager of Local Union 3 of the International Brotherhood of Electrical Workers.
“I hope all of today’s contributors,” Van Arsdale quipped, “are not financing their Bond purchases on a credit card – that is not a good financial move.” 
Thomas Van Arsdale (left) and
William C. Thompson Jr., president
of NYC Board of Education. | Van Arsdale was present in the early 1950s when his father, Harry Van Arsdale Jr., Armand D’Angelo and several other labor and management leaders founded the Electrical Division as the first industry campaign in Israel Bond history. Since then, he has been a major leader of the campaign, which has provided many millions of dollars in investment capital to build Israel’s economy. Howard Hirsch of Forest Electric Corp., chairman of Israel Bonds New York Metropolitan Region, and Matthew Gold of Midtown Electric Supply Co. served as general chairmen of the event. 
From left: Campaign chairmen Howard Hirsch and
Matthew Gold, Thomas Van Arsdale, and Todd
Hirsch, co-chairman of the Electrical Division’s New
Leadership Steering Committee. | New York City Comptroller Alan Hevesi, the guest speaker, recalled what former Senator Patrick Moynihan once noted: “Since the time of the Pharaohs, there has been 15 democratic elections in the Middle East – all of them in the State of Israel.” |
