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PRIME MINISTER ARIEL SHARON CALLS ON JEWISH PEOPLE IN THE WORLD TO SHARE BURDEN OF ISRAEL AT THIS TIME PHILANTHROPIST MAX FISHER, CHAIRMAN OF BOARD OF GOVERNORS OF JEWISH AGENCY ALEX GRASS AND HEADS OF UNITED JEWISH COMMUNITIES CHARLES BRONFMAN AND JOEL TAUBER HAVE ALREADY OPENED ROUND OF TALKS WITH MAJOR DONORS IN EFFORT TO RESPOND TO CHALLENGE
Prime Minister Ariel Sharon called on the Jewish people to launch a fund-raising campaign in order to involve every Jewish household around the world in strengthening Israel at this time and reinforcing the future of the Jewish people for generations to come. Sharon addressed the Jewish Agency Assembly on Saturday evening, before leaving for Washington to meet President Bush. The same evening, the Prime Minister also met with Max Fisher and then went on to a closed meeting with leaders of the United Jewish Communities and the Jewish Agency. "First and foremost, I am a Jew. Not an observant Jew but a Jew, and if there's one thing that worries me it is the future of the Jewish people, not tomorrow or next week, but in two or three hundred years or more from now. This is the basis for my ties with the religious and ultra-orthodox streams. They understand that even if I am not an observant Jew, I am truly concerned about the future of the Jewish people". These comments were made at a closed meeting between Sharon, the United Jewish Communities and Jewish Agency leaders. The Prime Minister called on the Jewish leaders in the room to rally around the Agency's efforts to increase aliyah: "More Jews must be brought from the west and we must take advantage of the window of opportunity which has opened in Argentina, France and South Africa. We must hurry to complete the aliyah from Ethiopia and improve their absorption, as well as intensify aliyah from the Former Soviet Union. "We must make sure that within 10-12 years we will bring another million Jews to Israel as we did in the 1990's. We need to enhance education for a stronger Jewish Zionist identity and reinforce our activities to achieve unity of the Jewish people, around the State of Israel. In order to do all this we need money", said the Prime Minister. In his response, Joel Tauber, Chairman of the Executive of the United Jewish Communities said: "The Jewish community in the US is strong and united in support of the State of Israel. We have therefore decided to increase the number of visits to Israel in an effort to save the tourist industry, to act in the area of public relations within and outside the Jewish community and to hold a giant solidarity rally for Israel in New York , in September with you as our guest of honor. We will also organize a major fund-raising campaign so that all Jews get a chance to participate in funding Israel's special needs". The Prime Minister emphasized that he will make every effort to assist in the success of these assignments. |
