Israel to donate $1 million to Jewish victims of Hurricane Harvey

Israel is rallying to aid the Jewish community of Houston and sending $1 million to help rebuild its institutions. 

Israel’s Ministry of Diaspora is formulating a plan to offer $1 million in aid to the Jewish community of Houston to help it get back on its feet after being devastated by Hurricane Harvey.

“The Jewish state is tested at times of crisis that our brethren in the Diaspora are confronted with. This is a clear statement of mutual responsibility,” stated Minister Naftali Bennett, who heads the ministry.

The emergency aid is slated to be approved in the upcoming cabinet meeting on Sunday. It will be provided through Israel’s local consulate to the community’s institutions, including its synagogues and schools, which are not supported by the government and have no prospects of rehabilitation.

Houston’s Jewish community, which numbers some 60,000, has been significantly affected by the historic storm. Many of the schools have been rendered useless, the JCC was damaged, and the old-age home which serves as a home to 300 of the community’s elderly was flooded. Thousands of Jewish families have lost their homes.

Jewish support which has poured in from around the world has enabled the community to establish a camp, which now serves as a home for thousands.

“The State of Israel has a moral obligation not only to express concern, but to actively help our brothers and sisters in the diaspora,” Bennett stated. “For years, the Jewish communities [around the world] have stood by Israel when it was in need of help, now it is out turn to stand by the community of Houston.”

The Ministry of Diaspora is at its final stages of implementing a plan to ensure that the aid is distributed in the most effective manner and that it meets the community’s needs.

By: World Israel News Staff