30 Kislev, 5763
Jerusalem

Weekly Jewish Solidarity Update
(For the week of 28 November-5 December 2002)

MANIFESTATIONS OF SOLIDARITY

·         In protest of last Thursday's terror attacks in Kenya (which killed three and wounded scores) and Beit Shean (which killed six and wounded over 20) New Yorkers gave up their Thanksgiving Day dinners to protest in front of the of the PLO Mission in New York City, Rabbi Avi Weiss, of AMCHA, the Coalition of Jewish Concerns, organized the protest demonstration.

·         On 500 members of the Cleveland Jewish Community held a vigil for victims of last Thursday's attack in Beit Shean. Cleveland is linked to Beit Shean through the Jewish Agency's Partnership 2000 program.

·         Over 5,000 Clevelanders attended the Jewish Community Federation of Cleveland's most successful "Israeli Marketplace on 24 and 25 November. The event showed grassroots support to Israel's artists and businesses.

SOLIDARITY MISSIONS

·         Three senior representatives of Cleveland's Jewish community, Prof. Arthur J. Naparstek (who is also Senior vice President of the United Jewish Communities and Director of its Overseas Pillar), Ms. Fran Immerman and Mr. David David Fleshler arrived in Beit Shean, on December 4th to show solidarity with their sister city. The delegation, visited the sites of the shootings, met with those wounded in the attack and paid condolence visits to families of the deceased. They held a videoconference with supporters back home.

·         A 50 strong UJC South African solidarity mission visited Israel on 23 November. The mission was comprised of members of the Jewish Agency's Israel Center, the South African Zionist Federation, Keren Hayesod, WIZO and the Jewish National Fund.

·         A ten-member UJC donors' mission from Chicago toured Israel. The group met with Jewish Agency Chairman Sallai Meridor, and visited new immigrants and victims of terror.

VOLUNTARISM

·         There has been great interest, especially among students to come to Israel on volunteer programs coordinated by the Jewish Agency's Tnuat Aliyah Department. Well over 3,200 have applied to come to Israel, and over 736 volunteers have served or are presently serving in volunteer programs, which include Civil Guard, Magen David Adom, a special physicians program, Sarel, kibbutz and social welfare programs. A new track for groups of volunteers has been added: civilian work in the Civil Defense (IDF Homefront Command), helping to prepare protective kits.

SELECTED ANTI-SEMITIC INCIDENTS

·         1 November 2002, Tucumon, Argentina. An anonymous attacker threw stones at the synagogue during Friday evening prayers.

·         8 November 2002, Tucumon, Argentina. An anonymous phone call to the Jewish school threatened: "What happened to the AMIA building will happen to the school." On 18 July 1994 a terrorist bomb blew up the AMIA building killing 85 individuals.

·         11 November 2002, 18 November. Copenhagen, Denmark. A group of Pakistanis attacked a Jewish man in a pizzeria.

·         18 November 2002. San Francisco, CA. A vandal threw a can of red paint at the wall of the Israeli consulate.

·         18 November, Copenhagen, Denmark. A group of five Moslems attacked a Jewish schoolgirl.

·         23 November 2002, Zurich, Switzerland. A group of young adults broke into a WIZO event disrupting the order. They cursed the participants and threw flares.

·         25 November 2002, Odessa, Ukraine. Vandals painted anti-Semitic epithets ion the walls of the synagogue.

·         28 November, Cairo, Egypt. A large number of anti-Semitic slogans were painted on walls in the M'aadi quarter of the city, where Israeli diplomats and representatives reside.

·         29 November, Antwerp, Belgium. A Molotov cocktail was hurled at a synagogue.

·         30 November, Cherkassy, Ukraine. Skinheads broke into a Chanukah party, which the Jewish Agency had organized in its youth club. They punched youth leaders and sprayed tear gas into the hall.

·         1 December 2002, Istanbul, Turkey. Demonstrators in an anti-American demonstration carried signs with Swastikas on them and shouted anti-Semitic slogans.

·         2 December 2002, Buenos Aires, Argentina. An anti-Semitic letter, which contained Neo-Nazi pictures and inscriptions, was found in the Jewish Agency building.

·         3 December 2002, Nikolayev, Ukraine. A letter with the inscription "Death to the Jews," was found.

Anti-Semitism is on the rise in Greece, according to a study published by the Greek Helsinki Monitoring Group. The study shows that since the beginning of the latest wave of Palestinian violence (October 2000), there has been an increase in blatant anti-Semitic expressions in Greek media. The September 11th terror attacks exacerbated this situation.

Anti-Semitic incidents may be monitored on the official State of Israel-Jewish Agency website: www.antisemitism.org.il