The Jewish Federation - Emergency Relief

Emergency Relief

Crisis Update: Georgian Jews Leave War-torn Home for Israel

August 2008

The Jewish Agency for Israel, a Federation-supported agency, brought 34 Georgian Jews to Israel on August 12, including several from the war-torn city of Gori and anticipates helping another hundred to make aliyah as soon as possible.

Jewish Agency Aliyah Department Director Eli Cohen greeted the new immigrants yesterday at Ben Gurion airport. "The current operation is unprecedented in its speed,” he said. “In 72 hours we evacuated Jews under fire, helped them to obtain visas to leave Georgia, verified their eligibility to immigrate to Israel under the Law of Return, and got them on a plane to Israel."

Your past support of The Jewish Federation’s Annual Campaign helped make this quick response possible. And through your gift, the services these newest citizens need are already in place.

But as the bullets continue to fly and the Jews of Georgia are caught in the crossfire, we need to continue to do all we can to get them to safety in Israel.

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Israel in Crisis
As soon as rockets began falling in Israel in July 2006, the Federation began working to assist our family halfway around the world.

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Katrina Relief
In the aftermath of 2005’s Hurricane Katrina, which laid waste to much of New Orleans and other portions of Louisiana and Mississippi, The Jewish Federation created a Hurricane Relief Fund designed to provide direct assistance to those in the Jewish and general communities affected by the disaster.

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Tsunami Relief
On December 26, 2004, a magnitude 9.0 earthquake struck approximately 100 miles off the coast of Indonesia’s Sumatra Island, triggering a wave of tsunamis which swept across the Indian Ocean from Thailand to Somalia. Immediately following the disaster, the Federation established a local emergency aid fund.

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Jews in Crisis
In 2002, the international Jewish community faced a two-pronged crisis: Israel was under attack in a second Palestinian Intifada, and the mostly upper-middle class Jewish community of Argentina faced sudden poverty, hunger and homelessness when Argentina’s economy fell into chaos. The L.A. Jewish community raised over $20 million through the Federation to support our family abroad.

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