Israel to support Jewish communities hit by virus

Herzog lauds ‘paradigm shift’ in which J’lem establishing mechanisms to help Jews in Diaspora

New Diaspora Affairs Minister MK Omer Yankelevich pledged the “unconditional commitment” of the State of Israel to Jewish communities in the Diaspora, and said that both Israelis and Diaspora Jews must work with mutual respect towards each other.

Yankelevich made her comments Tuesday afternoon during a roundtable discussion conducted between officials of the Diaspora Affairs Ministry and the Jewish Agency, including its chairman Isaac Herzog, to discuss ways to assist Jewish communities around the world who have been badly affected by the COVID-19 pandemic.

The discussion in which representatives from other government ministries as well as major Jewish organizations looked at five issues of concern for Jewish communities around the world in light of the public health crisis, including the need for rehabilitation and assistance, effectively collecting and distributing aid, promoting unity and mutual responsibility assessing educational needs, and tackling antisemitism.

Herzog lauded the discussion held via an online video conference, saying that it was “the first time in the history of the State of Israel, we established a formal forum to assist Jewish communities around the world,” and described it as a “paradigm shift.”

Herzog said the session was not an ad hoc emergency response to help a specific community, but rather an initiative “to assist communities through a rehabilitation period that is expected to be long and, in some cases, grueling.”

Speaking in introductory remarks, Yankelevich said generally that “There is no place for divisiveness in our Jewish world today,” during the video-conference roundtable discussion.

“We need to work together in mutual respect and understanding for the good of our Jewish world,” she continued in a subtle allusion to the strained relations between Israel and Diaspora Jews which arose during the last government over several issues.

The minister noted that several Jewish communities have been particularly badly hit by the COVID-19 disease, saying “We are drowning in sorrow for loss of loved ones and our traditional anchors of Jewish communities, our synagogues.”

The minister continued, saying that Israel, as the largest Jewish community in the world, had an “unconditional commitment… to support our fellow Jews,” adding that this was a “core value which we cannot separate from our Israeli and Jewish identity.”

Yankelevich said that Israel would offer support and assistance for Jewish communities in need due to the coronavirus pandemic, and would also help fight antisemitism which has spiked due to the global health crisis.

“Our ministry would like to work with communities everywhere so they have a connection to people in Israel and us to them, so they feel proud that Israel is a real and active part of their life and identity, just as we in Israel understand and recognize and are proud of Jewish life abroad which is a real and active part of our identity too,” said the new minister.

Last month, the Jewish Agency, together with Keren Hayesod and Jewish Federations of North America, launched a $10 million loan fund to help Jewish communities impacted by COVID-19, and dozens of applications were received from communities in more than 15 countries for such loans.