Word
FOR $6 YEARS AND COUNTING,
DEMOCRATS STAND
WITH ISRAEL.
"I had faith in Israel before it
was established, I have faith
in it now. I believe it has a
glorious future before it —
not just another sovereign
nation, but as an embodiment
of the great ideals of Our
civilization."
Federation Giving Is Down
New York/JTA
Private giving to
North American Jewish federations
declined by 12.5 percent last year,
according to the Chronicle of
Philanthropy's annual list of top chari-
ties.
The United Jewish Communities,
the umbrella organization of local
Jewish federations, was the largest
Jewish charity on the list, raising nearly
$345 million from private sources in
the 2003 fiscal year, and moved up to
25th place from 32nd place on the list
of the Chronicle's top 400 charities
involved in fund-raising.
Raising more than $192 million from
private sources, the American Jewish
Joint Distribution Committee was the
Jewish charity to rank next, at 54th
place. This was the first time the JDC
made the list.
—
—Harry S. Truman
President Harry S. Truman with P.M. David Ben-Gurion
"Israel will endure and flourish. It is the child of
hope and home of the brave. It can neither be
broken by adversity nor demoralized by
success. It carries the shield of democracy and
it hours the sword of freedom."
—John E Kennedy
U.S. Hate Crimes Flat
New York/JTA
There were approxi-
mately the same number of hate crimes
in the United States in 2003 as 2002,
according to FBI statistics.
Of the 7,489 hate crimes noted in
an FBI report released Monday, 1,300
were religion-based crimes, more than
69 percent of them directed against
Jews or Jewish institutions. After the
release of the report, the Anti-
Defamation League called for expanded
federal hate crimes legislation.
—
"Our society is illuminated by the spiritual
insights of the Hebrew prophets. America and
Israel have a common love of human
freedom, and they have a common faith in a
democratic way of life."
—Lyndon B. Johnson
President Lyndon B. Johnson
with P.M Eshkol
"We have a special relationship with
Israel. It's absolutely crucial that no
one in our country or around the
world ever doubt that our number one
commitment in the Middle East is to
protect the right of Israel to exist, to
exist permanently, and to exist in
peace. It's a special relationship."
President Jimmy Carter
with P.M Menachem Begin
—Jimmy Carter
"There will be no lasting peace or regional
stability without a strong and secure Israel,
secure enough to make peace, strong enough
to deter the adversaries which will still be
there, even if a peace is made in complete
good faith. And clearly that is why the United
states must maintain its commitment to -
preserving Israel's qualitative edge in military
superiority"
—Bill Clinton
Paid for by the Michigan Democratic State
Central Committee. Not authorized by any
candidate or candidate committee.
President Bill. Clinton at the
grave of Yitzhak Rabin
Vote Democratic on November 2
Tutu Lessons for Humanity awards also
were inaugurated. These will be pre-
sented annually to teachers in recogni-
tion of outstanding student projects
connected to the Holocaust.
They are intended to serve as 'back-up
for teachers in Holocaust Studies,
which is to be a compulsory part of his-
tory and social science for ninth- and
11th-grade students by 2006.
Jewish Agency Strategizes
Jerusalem/JTA
The Jewish Agency
for Israel approved a new strategic plan
aimed at keeping the organization rele-
vant in the 21st century.
In a unanimous vote, the agency's
board of governors, currently meeting
in Jerusalem, approved what it referred
to as' a strategy for securing the Jewish
future. There will be a push to increase
aliyah among young Jews from Western
countries and to bring young Jews on
extended visits to Israel.
There also will be a focus on building
and expanding partnerships with both
Jewish federations and individuals and
on mobilizing Jews to volunteer for
Jewish-related activities in Israel and the
diaspora.
—
E.U. To Help Arafat?
Paris/JTA --- The European Union is
reportedly launching a new Middle
East peace initiative. Following a meet-
ing with Palestinian Authority Foreign
Minister Nabil Sha'ath in Brussels, the
E.U.'s foreign policy chief; Javier --
Jesus Fights Anti-Semitism?
Solana, said "important events are
Paris/JTA
French Jewish students
going to take place in the coming
withdrew images featuring Jesus and
weeks."
the Virgin Mary from an advertising
For his'part, Sha'ath told the
campaign against anti-Semitism.
Palestinian daily AI Quds that five E.U.
The ad campaign, which featured
foreign ministers would shortly be
pictures of the pair above the words
. coming to Ramallah to end the siege of
"Dirty Jew," was ended after the
P.A. President Yasser Arafat, who has
images proved too shocking for
long been holed up in his Ramallah
Catholics and some Jews. The Union of compound.
•
Jewish Students initially had been set to
The initiative is reportedly the brain-
run the advertisements in national
child of Spanish Foreign Minister
newspapers and on billboards across
Miguel Moratinos, a former E.U.
France this week, but decided to "mod-
envoy to the Middle East.
ify the visuals," a union official told
In an interview with the German
JTA.
magazine Der Spiegeh Solana also allud-
ed to increased E.U. involvement in the
peace process adding that Ariel Sharon's
Tutu Backs Studies
Gaza disengagement plan would not be
sufficient
to bring peace.
Cape Town/JTA — Archbishop
If
Sharon
believes that with a "pull-
Desmond Tutu introduced new materi-
out
from
Gaza
everything is already
als on the Holocaust for teachers and
done and that peace would come auto-
•
students.
matically, we won't support that," he
At an Oct. 21 reception held in the
said. "That wouldn't be a dream, but a
Nobel Prize winner's honor at the Cape
nightmare."
Town Holocaust Centre, the Desmond
—
-