Help for victims of terror attacks
The Jewish Agency for Israel’s Fund for Victims of Terror will provide financial assistance to more than one hundred individuals and families affected by terror attacks since October, as well as to some twenty families who have lost loved ones in the attacks.
Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel Natan Sharansky addresses the opening plenary of the Jewish Agency Board of Governors meeting in Jerusalem. Photo : Lior Daskal for The Jewish Agency for Israel.
The Jewish Federations of North America, Keren Hayesod-UIA, individual Jewish Federations, and individual donors have contributed over $1.34 million with any Israeli citizen or foreign national recognized by the government as a victim of terror is eligible to receive Jewish Agency assistance. The Fund for Victims of Terror operates in partnership with the Ministry of Defense and the National Insurance Institute.
Chairman of the Executive of The Jewish Agency for Israel Natan Sharansky said: “The support provided by Jewish communities around the world is not only financial in nature. This is an expression of Diaspora Jewry’s solidarity with the people of Israel, which is also manifested by the hundreds of thousands of Jews who visit Israel, the tens of thousands of Jewish young people who participate in Israel experience programs, and the record number of Jews who choose to immigrate to Israel – even now.”
Each family will receive financial assistance of up to NIS 25,000 (approximately $8,600) meant to supplement government support for victims of terror. Families who have lost loved ones in terror attacks and those physically or emotionally affected will be able to use the financial aid for rehabilitation, supplemental treatment, the purchase of medical equipment, personal empowerment, and other purposes. The first ten families will receive financial assistance in the coming days, and altogether more than one hundred families are expected to receive Jewish Agency assistance.
In addition to the supplemental assistance, the fund offers emergency assistance of NIS 4,000 (approximately $1,340) to any family affected by terror in order to help them address immediate needs in the aftermath of an attack. Since the beginning of the current wave of terror, such assistance has been provided to approximately seventy families across Israel.
Keren Hayesod is funded in Australia and New Zealand by the United Israel Appeal – UIA.
The caption under the photo reads, “…The Jewish Agency for Israel…”
The translation of the Hebrew words that appear in the background, however, is actually, ” The Jewish Agency for The Land of Israel.”
The difference is not trivial; the State of Israel prior to June 1967 did not encompass the entire Land of Israel, the geographical extent of which was endorsed in 1922 by the legal document known as “The Mandate for Palestine,”as lying from the Mediterranean Sea to the Jordan River.
Our family, our people, so we should care and help.
I really wish that there were also a way to support those Holocaust survivors who are living in poverty in Israel. Does anyone know of an organisation that aimed at supporting and giving practical help for these people to which one could contribute?