January 2, 2008 / 24 Tevet 5768

The Jewish Agency has established a new fund to provide emergency relief for Kassam victims in Sderot  and the Gaza perimeter. The fund will allocate 1.2 million shekels, a contribution of the United Jewish Communities of North America (UJC), for this purpose.

Given the severe security conditions in Sderot and the vicinity, the Jewish Agency, in conjunction with the United Jewish Communities of North America (UJC) and Keren Hayesod has decided to establish a special fund to provide emergency relief to the Kassam victims in Sderot and  surrounding communities in the Gaza perimeter.  The partners have allocated 1.2 million NIS ($300,000) for this purpose.  The fund will operate immediately.

The money will be used to provide a response to the immediate needs arising from a Kassam strike, and it is intended to enable a family to finance its most pressing needs immediately.

Applications to the funds will be submitted via the welfare departments of the communities and municipalities.

One should note that the new fund is part of the national fund for terror victims that the Jewish Agency has operated and which has in recent years disbursed about 100 million shekels to victims of hostile action throughout Israel; in the North, including the victims of the second Lebanon war, in the South and in the Center.  This national fund is made possible thanks to donations by the United Jewish Communities of North America (UJC) and Keren Hayesod.

Zeev Bielski, Chairman of the Jewish Agency, says that: “Kassam strikes are so traumatic that there is a need to provide a speedy solution allowing injured families to escape their situation and return to normal routine.  The new fund will facilitate precisely this purpose.  The resolute stand of the Jewish communities throughout the world alongside the residents of Israel, primarily in difficult times, is noteworthy the and most laudable.”

Nachman Shai, Senior Vice President and Director General of UJC Israel, said: “the United Jewish Communities stand by the residents of Sderot and the Western Negev who reside on Israel’s borders during these present difficult days.  We are obliged to provide an immediate response to their plight.  Via the emergency appeal, we will do our utmost to provide them with the needed assistance.  The new fund simultaneously offers an expression of solidarity and genuine assistance.”

Avi Pazner, the World Chairman of Keren Hayesod, added, “Keren Hayesod has stood for many years alongside the residents of Sderot and the Gaza perimeter.  We’ve erected social and educational projects there that have made a major contribution to communal life and it is most natural that we should continue assisting the residents of the region, whose day to day heroism arouses respect and veneration to the best of our ability.”