February 20th, 2007
To: Open letter to UJC, New York, New York
From: David Bedein, Bureau Chief, Israel Resource News Agency
Correspondent, The Philadelphia Bulletin
The author of the following UJC memo did not take the time to read the piece
that our news agency wrote about UJC allocations to Sderot & the Western Negev, which can be found at:
http://www.thebulletin.us/site/news.cfm?newsid=17875014&BRD=2737&PAG=461&dept_id=585832&rfi=6
Our piece clearly states that the UJC allocated funds for the calender year 2006 for Sderot and the Western Negev and questioned the UJC allocation for Sderot for the calender year 2007.
The piece focused on a widely distributed December 28th, 2006 UJC letter to
contributors which stated that the UJC was allocating an additional $4 million for the calender year 2007 to Sderot and the Western Negev.
What stimulated this article was the news from Sderot and the Western Negev that the allocations to Sderot and the Western Negev mentioned in the December 28th, 2006 letter to contributors simply did not arrive.
The UJC Israel office formally reported to our news agency yesterday, on the record, that the December 28th letter to contributors offering the additional $4 Million was a mistaken correspondence.
Our criticism of the UJC is that the UJC focuses on the fact that the UJC
not yet allocated funds for the Western Negev and Sderot for the 2007 calender year.
A February 14th, 2007 memo from the UJC which was sent to
contributors which delineates the UJC's 2006 allocations for Sderot and the
Western Negev, with the exception of one allocation - for business loans.
On February 20th, 2007, the UJC distributed another memo to the media, dated February 13th, which delineates the same allocations to Sderot
and the Western Negev which has no allocation dates on it whatsoever.
When the press reads the second memo, reporter have the impression that the UJC is now funding current projects in Sderot and the Western Negev to the tune of more than three million dollars.
The question remains: What will be the UJC 2007 allocation to health, education and social services of the Jewish communities of Sderot and the Western Negev, in light of the fact that these communities have suffered more than 100 missile attacks SINCE Israel's self-imposed cease-fire on November 26th, 2006?
|