The first initiative of this sort was to be presented Tuesday at the United Jewish Communities (UJC) General Assembly taking place in Toronto.
Israel's Consul General in New York, Arye Mekel, will propose to the UJC that it become an active partner in the Foreign Ministry's projects in developing and poor countries.
Israel to ask U.S. Jewish communities to fund its foreign aid projects
Israel is trying to persuade Jewish federations and communities in the United States to finance Israeli aid programs in foreign countries, Haaretz has learned.
The first initiative of this sort was to be presented Tuesday at the United Jewish Communities (UJC) General Assembly taking place in Toronto.
Israel’s Consul General in New York, Arye Mekel, will propose to the UJC that it become an active partner in the Foreign Ministry’s projects in developing and poor countries.
The Foreign Ministry’s department for international cooperation has been operating since 1958 and is helping some 114 third-world countries with aid and technological knowledge. The department’s programs consist of courses and training foreign residents in various professions.
However, due to cutbacks jeopardizing the department’s work, the Foreign Ministry decided to appeal to the Jewish federations and communities in the United States to help finance the projects, such as stopping AIDS from spreading in Africa or helping victims of natural disasters.
Israel is offering the UJC involvement in setting the order of priorities for aid projects in Africa or Asia. In addition, every federation and community would be able to choose independently from a list of objectives and take active part in carrying out projects in a certain country or developing community.
Mekel told Haaretz on Monday that Israeli experts will be in charge of carrying out the projects on the ground and Israeli instructors will train the local personnel.
However, the main idea is that funding some of the projects would create a partnership between American Jews and Israel.
Senior Jewish figures told Haaretz on Monday that they have received positive preliminary reactions to the Israeli initiative.
“Although the Toronto GA focuses almost exclusively on local community needs, the very fact that the leaders of the UJC agreed to give time to present the Foreign Ministry’s initiative is a positive sign,” the leader of a Jewish organization in New York said Monday.
aliza
it’s not enough that Jewish money given to the large Jewish organizations is used to fund Arabs. now Jewish money has to fund other nations as well. but the catch is that is is all controlled by the government in Eretz Yisoel. "Mekel told Haaretz on Monday that Israeli experts will be in charge of carrying out the projects…" this is just another way for increase their power and to reduce the power of organizations such as Chabad who have been praised for helping in the case of natural disasters in various countries.
i am curious why crown heights dot info found this article relevant to their readers. what is the source of the article? i don’t get this business of a quote from a ‘leader of Jewish organization’ without giving the name of the leader or the organization. since when don’t these guys want to see their names in print?