North American Reform Movement Supports Sderot
June 10, 2007--The North American Reform community is being asked to quickly raise $100,000 to enable the Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism to provide services to the people of Sderot, who have suffered from rocket attacks for seven years but have in recent weeks become the focal point of Israel's enemies.
For seven years, Hamas, backed by Iran, has launched rockets on Sderot. To appreciate the extent of these attacks, recall that in the 1991 Gulf War, Saddam Hussein succeeded in hitting all of Israel with a total of 39 rockets. A few weeks ago, Hamas sent 40 rockets into Sderot in the space of a single day.
The residents of Sderot have paid a terrible price. Some have died in the rocket attacks. The children of the city are traumatized, sometimes unable to go to school, often unable to sleep at night. Businesses have been forced to close repeatedly. Surely the citizens of the town are entitled to the best defenses, social services, and support that the Jewish people can provide.
In addition to the overwhelming human needs, there is a political dimension to this tragedy. As many have pointed out, the struggle for Sderot is the struggle for Israeli sovereignty. The enemies of Israel intend to force evacuation, and are acquiring longer-range rockets for attacks on more distant Israeli cities. Their intentions are clear: Sderot first, then Ashkelon, and then perhaps even Tel Aviv. It is for this reason that Israel’s historic policy of never evacuating citizens in the face of armed aggression has been reaffirmed by Israeli leaders across the political spectrum.
How can we help? The Israel Movement for Progressive Judaism – the Reform movement in Israel – has been providing services to the people of Sderot. It would like to continue and expand these services, but requires our assistance to do so.
The Union for Reform Judaism has committed to raise $100,000 from our congregations to fund assistance programs for Sderot by the Israeli Reform movement and other organizations. The following are the programs we hope to support:
Please help us to lift up the people of Sderot.
