UJC/JDC Responses To The Deepening Emergency
July 2002
Israel's "crisis" is now a war
- a war that is testing its citizens' resilience. It is also stretching the
country's resources to the limit.
After cutting $1.4 billion from the State budget early this year, the Government
must now consider billions more in cuts to sustain the war effort. This cut
will inevitably come from the very programs that help Israelis who struggle,
even in good times.
Yet in these worst of times, crisis-related recession has driven unemployment
to 10%, and the poverty rate to 19%; one Israeli child in four now lives in
poverty. Israelis are also paying the wider price of war - beyond devastating
injuries and loss of life. It is the price of children's fear for their parents,
and parents' for their children.
As war intensifies Israel's needs and depletes its ability to meet them, JDC
- in partnership with UJC and America's federations - is expanding efforts to
enable American Jewry to play its part.
Protecting Israel's children against the terrorist threat, while helping treat those suffering conflict-related trauma and stress.
UJC's summer programs for Israeli children - In order to keep children off the streets and away from danger, JDC seeks massive subsidies for children from low-income families to enable them to participate in after-school and summer programs.
($25 million/summer programs + $16 million/after-school programs)
Crisis intervention and post-trauma support for parents, children and youth by enhancing professional and volunteer services.
(Budget: $4 million)
Total Program Budget: $45 million
EMERGENCY JDC ASSISTANCE
As it struggles to finance the war effort, the Government of Israel has asked
JDC to increase funding for our programs for Israel's most vulnerable citizens
- children and youth at risk of neglect and abuse; isolated immigrant elderly
and Holocaust survivors; and struggling immigrants trapped on the margins of
Israeli society.
Emergency funding will ensure that help continues to reach those that need it
most - so that these Israelis are not irreparably harmed by war's economic fall-out.
Total Program Budget: $15 million
PROTECTING CIVILIANS FROM ATTACK
The IDF has asked JDC for urgent assistance to ensure that ordinary Israelis
are protected as fully as possible from the possibility of an acute threat arising
from a wider regional conflict:
Safety for Israelis with special needs - Sealed-rooms to shelter Israelis cared for in homes and daycare centers for the elderly, the disabled, or for children.
Total Program Budget: $1.6 million
For more information, please email: israelrelief@jdc.org
