Friday, December 15, 2023

American Jewry raised $1 billion for Israel in first month of war, scholars say

North American Jewry raised about $1 billion for Israel in the first month of its war with Hamas, the authors of a new report estimated.

The Jewish Federations of North America raised more than $600 million for Israel within a month of the outbreak of war, according to the report by scholars at Haifa University’s Ruderman Program for American Jewish Studies published Wednesday.

The remaining $400 million figure is an estimation of donations raised in multiple campaigns by other communal and private organizations with a Jewish affiliation, including friendship associations supporting Israeli hospitals, universities and emergency services, David Barak-Gorodetsky, director of the Ruderman Program, told The Times of Israel Thursday.

The $602 million raised by the Jewish Federations of North America and its constituent member organizations exceeded their $500 million goal, which they had announced at the start of the fundraising campaign immediately after October 7, when 3,000 Hamas-led terrorists murdered some 1,200 people across southern Israel, most of them civilians slaughtered amid brutal atrocities including executions, burnings and rapes.

The sums raised amount to an “unprecedented contribution,” stated the 71-page report, titled “Stand United — U.S. Jewry and Israel During the First Month of the War.” READ MORE