Diaspora Affairs Minister Omer Yankelevich (Blue and White) held a joint Zoom meeting Friday with settlement leaders, senior rabbis, and heads of Jewish communities across the United States.
The meeting, organized by the Yesha Council, was held following a wave of anti-Semitic incidents in the United States.
Yesha Council Director General Yigal Dilmoni asked Yankelevich to take part in the meeting in order to strengthen Israel’s ties with Jewish communities in the Diaspora and to bridge the gap between American Jewry and the State of Israel, especially with regards to pro-Israel outreach.
Among the participants in the meeting: Rabbi Pesach Lerner; Rabbi Shalom Axelrod of the Young Israel of Woodmere; Rabbi Joseph Beyda, the Rosh Yeshiva of Flatbush; Howard Tish; Scott Flatman of the One Israel Fund; Rabbi Adam Starr, Head of the Young Israel Community in Atlanta; Rabbi Richard Tobias, head of the Magen David yeshiva in Brooklyn; Rabbi Eitan Tokayer, head of the Kingsway Jewish Center, SPN leaders - Rafi Lazerovich, Jackie Ashkenazi, Eddie Mizrahi, Joy Shema, and more many.
During the meeting, letters of support for US Jewry were presented by Minister Yankelevich and dozens of municipal leaders from across Israel, and a letter of support from Yesha Council chairman David Elhayani.
"We understand that events in US communities have become extremely difficult in recent weeks,” said Yankelevich. “The Jewish people all over the world stand with you because we are one people with a common sense of mission and responsibility towards each other.”
“We will do everything we can to help you. Just as the Jewish communities around the world stand by the State of Israel during this challenging period, and defend its right to defend itself, so too, the State of Israel stands by Diaspora communities in the face of the alarming rise in anti-Semitism following the situation. We in the Ministry of Diaspora are working to monitor these attacks and fight this phenomenon until it is ended. Because we are one people, and one family, and such periods are our test."
Dilmoni expressed the support of Israelis living in Judea and Samaria for American Jewry: “In difficult times the people of Israel knows how to stand together.”
“We here in Judea and Samaria know how important the support we receive is when we’re facing terrorism. During this difficult time for you, we would like to express our full support for you and your communities in the hope of better days of unity and cooperation.”
