American Jews have gobbled up $1 billion worth of Israeli bonds in this year's annual campaign despite the financial crisis that has gripped the United States, Bonds official Yehoshua Matza said Friday morning. He added that the buyers are more interested in helping Israel than they are in making money on the bonds, which offer a lower interest rate than available in American bonds.
Matza said that the billion-dollar mark could have been surpassed if Finance Minister Ronnie Bar-On (Kadima) had not put a ceiling on the amount of bonds to be sold.