Jewish Agency proposes 10-year plan to fight anti-Semitism

The rise in anti-Jewish hatred led the organization to build a 10-year plan to meet the challenge.

By Batya Jerenberg, World Israel News

In light of the troubling rise in global anti-Semitism, the Jewish Agency’s Board of Trustees is set to approve a decade-long plan to combat the phenomenon during its three-day meeting that starts Sunday in Jerusalem.

The strategy will consist of three tracks that will be coordinated with the relevant governmental authorities, Jewish communities, and global or local organizations.

On the political level, it will work with the Israeli government to raise the level of awareness of the problem in other countries and encourage their governments to take appropriate action to protect their Jewish communities.

On the educational level, the Agency plans to inaugurate programs with a global reach, through the U.N., for example, that will teach the facts about Jews and why anti-Semitism is an issue that must be dealt with.

On the most practical level, the Agency will fund security measures at Jewish institutions and in the communities. As Jewish Agency chairman Isaac Herzog told The Jerusalem Post on Sunday, anti-Semitic incidents occur almost every day in some part of the world.

The jump in anti-Jewish activities has been documented in several surveys over the past year, from Latin America to Europe to the U.S. They range from property crimes such as graffiti on synagogues and the overturning of Jewish gravestones, to verbal confrontations, social media attacks and physical assaults.

The organization also plans to bolster the positive in educational programming, and not only fight the negative. It will  expand the number of young Israeli adults it sends out annually to Jewish communities around the world, adding significantly to the over 2,000 emissaries who already work in local communities and schools to strengthen Jewish pride and connection to Israel, especially among youth.

The 85-year-old Agency will also continue the work for which it is perhaps most well known – promoting Aliyah, or immigration to Israel. It helps thousands of young Jews spend from a few weeks to a year in Israel in various programs, as well as conducts secret rescue operations to bring endangered Jews from their home countries to the Jewish homeland.

“This is an historic moment for an organization that has held an historic role in life of the Jewish people,” Herzog said.

“We will work to provide concrete solutions to the challenges facing the Jewish people – mending the rifts among our people, building a two-way bridge between Israel and world Jewry, encouraging Aliyah and providing security for Jews around the world.”