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World

JCPA Agenda

Groups back Obama budget, concerned about tax proposal.

Eric Fingerhut
Jewish Telegraphic Agency

Washington

M

ore than 100 Jewish commu-
nity organizations are back-
ing President Obama's 2010
budget while expressing "significant
concerns," but not opposing, a proposed
decrease in the tax deduction for chari-
table contributions.
In a letter sent to Congress, the organi-
zations highlighted four specific Jewish
communal priorities, including "compre-
hensive health care reform" that reduces
costs while improving quality and access,
and the reauthorization of child nutrition
programs.
The groups also declared their sup-
port for various discretionary spending
programs — including the Low Income
Home Energy Assistance Program and the
Community Development Block Grant, the

Coalition Pact

Jerusalem/JTA — The Shas and Likud par-
ties signed a government coalition agree-
ment.
Shas on March 22 became the second
party to join the coalition led by Prime
Minister-designate Benjamin Netanyahu.
Under the agreement, Shas party chair-
man Eli Yishai will remain a deputy prime
minister and be named interior minister.
Also, the party will fill the positions of
housing minister, religious affairs minister
and minister without portfolio. Likud also
agreed to raise child allowances over the
next three years.
Netanyahu now has a coalition of 53
lawmakers, with Likud, Yisrael Beiteinu and
Shas. He needs 61 for a narrow majority.

Fatah Leader Killed

Jerusalem/JTA — A senior member of the
Palestinian Fatah faction was killed in
southern Lebanon.
Kamal Medhat's death by a roadside
bomb March 23 was an "assassination," a
Fatah spokesman in the West Bank told
Reuters.
Medhat, deputy head of the Palestine
Liberation Organization in Lebanon, was
killed along with four others, reportedly

A38

March 26 • 2009

Community Services Block Grant and the
Signatories to the letter, which was
Social Services Block Grant — and urged
organized by the Jewish Council for Public
the inclusion of funding for the
Affairs, included the United
National Housing Trust Fund to
Jewish Communities, American
build, rehabilitate and preserve
Jewish Committee, B'nai
housing for low-income families.
B'rith International, National
"Now, more than ever:' the let-
Council of Jewish Women and
ter asserted, "this economic crisis
the Conservative, Reform and
requires a federal budget that
Reconstructionist movements,
balances the need for long-term
along with dozens of local com-
Hadar
fiscal discipline with the need to
munity relations councils.
sustain critical services in this
Susski nd
One group that did not sign
time of economic crisis."
was the Orthodox Union.
The March 19 letter also raised ques-
Public Policy Director Nathan Diament
tions about one Obama administration
said the OU supported the measures
proposal.
endorsed in the letter but declined to
"Many in our community have signifi-
sign on because the language objecting to
cant concerns" with the Obama adminis-
the tax deduction change was not strong
tration's plans to partially finance health-
enough. Diament said the OU, which
care reform by reducing the deduction for
represents about 1,000 congregations
charitable contributions, the letter said.
and operates the largest kosher certifica-
It urged the administration to consider
tion agency in the United States, wanted
the impact of the measure on nonprofit
a "clear statement of opposition" to the
organizations.
reduction in the tax deduction.

JCPA's Washington director, Hadar
Susskind, said the letter took a moderate
line because there was "no community
consensus" on the charitable deduction
proposal. Some in the community were
worried about it, but others believed it was
good policy and unlikely to have much of
an effect on nonprofit groups.
"There are varying opinions and
nobody really knows what it's going to do:'
Susskind said, "but because it could have
a negative impact, this was our attempt
to express community concerns without
implying opposition."
Susskind said the issues emphasized
in the letter were chosen because they
are "big community priorities" that every
agency involved in domestic policy cares
about. They also encompass both short-
term priorities — such as the child nutri-
tion programs that are up for reauthoriza-
tion this year — and longer-term goals
such as health-care reform. Li

bodyguards, near the Mieh Mieh refugee
camp near Sidon. No one claimed respon-
sibility for the attack.

of whom give at least $25,000 per year to
Jewish philanthropy.
Charendoff said that in response to the
economic downturn and a tightening of
philanthropic dollars, the funding com-
munity should focus its spending in three
categories: a third each on Jewish literacy
projects, projects that advance Jewish
peoplehood and Jewish service.
Charendoff said later that fighting anti-
Semitism and anti-Israel sentiment on
college campuses, as well as investing in
Israel's growing nonprofit world, should be
included within spending on peoplehood.
The philanthropic community also
should spend more on the operating
expenses and general budgets of the non-
profits it funds, he said.

TNT Near Gaza

Jerusalem/JTA — Egyptian police confis-
cated a half ton of dynamite hidden near
the Gaza border.
The police also took possession Sunday
night of a flock of 560 sheep being pre-
pared to be smuggled through tunnels
into Gaza and found the entrances to six
smuggling tunnels near the sheep, close to
the Rafah border crossing.

Military Violated Ethics

Jerusalem/JTA — Israel's military violated
the code of medical ethics during its mili-
tary operation in Gaza, an Israeli human
rights group said.
The military prevented the delivery of
medical assistance to wounded Gazans,
attacked Palestinian medical personnel
and prevented ill Palestinians from seek-
ing treatment outside of Gaza, according to
the Israel chapter of Physicians for Human
Rights in a report released March 23.
Israeli army fire killed 16 medical per-
sonnel and wounded 25 while they per-
formed medical duties, the report said. In

addition, the army hit 34 medical facilities
— eight hospitals and 26 primary care
clinics.
The report also said that although the
Israeli health system was prepared and
able to receive the wounded from the
Gaza Strip, only a few were referred to
Israel for treatment. Only six of 5,380
wounded eventually received medical
treatment in Israel because of the clos-
ing of Gaza-Israel crossings, the collapse
of the coordination system and, later, the
refusal of the Palestinian Authority and
Hamas to refer the wounded to Israel.
The Israeli military told Reuters that
Hamas fighters had "methodically made
use of medical vehicles, facilities and uni-
forms in order to conceal and camouflage
terrorist activity, and in general used
ambulances to carry terror activists and
weapons."

Change In Giving?

St. Petersburg Fla./JTA — The president
of the Jewish Funders Network called for a
change in how the community distributes
its money.
Mark Charendoff was speaking March
23 at a lunch meeting during the organiza-
tion's annual conference to members, each

Israel HQ Closed

Jerusalem/JTA — Johnson & Johnson shut
down its headquarters in Israel.
The company's 20 employees, including
its CEO, were fired.
Johnson & Johnson has been operating
in Israel for 13 years. The company report-
edly is in the process of closing branches
around the world with sales below $50
million. Its products will continue to be
sold in Israel.

