News Brief

(IsraelNN.com) Israel-Diaspora relations have sunk to a new low, according to the Van Leer Institute, an advanced studies center in Jerusalem.  The report, which was published earlier this month, recommends Israeli organizations de-emphasize Israel in their appeals to Diaspora communities, using a more pan-Jewish approach and forming a new state authority comprised of Israeli and Diaspora Jews that would replace the Jewish Agency and other organizations.

According to the report, only 25 percent of charitable donations by Diaspora Jews reach Israel, as opposed to 75 percent a couple of decades ago.

A Jewish Agency survey of American Jews in 2002 concluded that only 31 percent of respondents feel very close to Israel.