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Chicago, Midwest, and US News |
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Israeli-Palestinian Conflict |
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Opinion & Analysis |
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| WE INVITE AND APPRECIATE YOUR GENEROUS SUPPORT, ESPECIALLY AT THIS CRITICAL TIME |
| As 2008 comes to a close, please consider supporting the work of the news team of the Jewish United Fund/Jewish Federation of Metropolitan Chicago. Once a week throughout the year, we bring you current news, analysis and opinion about events in Israel, Chicago, and in Jewish communities worldwide. If you haven't donated yet to JUF, please do so now. Thank you. |
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Chicago, Midwest, and US News |
| AUTHORITIES INVESTIGATE ARSON AT CHICAGO SYNAGOGUE AS HATE CRIME |
| Chicago police are investigating an arson that occurred early this morning at Temple Sholom in Lakeview, which issued a statement to the community.
A Town Hall District police captain said that a Molotov cocktail was hurled at the temple just before 2 a.m. Monday. No injuries were reported.
Police were notified at 1:59 a.m. of the fire at the synagogue on the 3400 block of North Lake Shore Drive. When police and fire department authorities arrived on the scene, they found a small fire on the wall in the fenced-in playground area on the synagogue's property, according to the captain. A witness described a man in his late 20s who fled the scene in a black two-door car, according to police. The fire was extinguished with hand pumps and caused little visible damage to the wall. |
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Israeli-Palestinian Conflict |
| A LETTER TO THE COMMUNITY ABOUT THE SITUATION IN ISRAEL |
| Israel is now in the midst of a pivotal struggle against terror, taking steps to do that which every sovereign nation is entitled: to defend its citizens. Read a special message to the community about how JUF is responding by David Sherman, Chairman of the Board, and Steven B. Nasatir, President. |
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| JUF'S OVERSEAS AGENCIES PROVIDING HELP TO ISRAEL'S SOUTHERN COMMUNITIES |
After several days of intense Palestinian rocket fire on Israeli towns following the expiration of the informal six-month truce between Israel and Hamas. Israeli war planes struck key Hamas targets in the Gaza Strip, including Hamas' main security compound, military posts, and smugglers' tunnels linking Gaza and Egypt.
JUF's overseas primary agencies, the Jewish Agency for Israel and the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee, have been helping the citizens of Sderot and the Gaza Perimeter for the past eight years. As the situation escalates, JUF, through its agencies, is on the ground, responding--as it has done throughout the year--with a range of immediate and long-term assistance programs. Meanwhile, JUF-funded Victims of Terror Fund has provided immediate emergency financial assistance to victims of rocket fire.
On Saturday, December 27, terror rockets for the first time hit the town of Kiryat Gat in JUF's Partnership 2000 region. Rockets have also been falling in western Lachish and throughout Shafir--other parts of the P2K region, according to Linda Epstein, director of JUF's Jerusalem office.
Learn more about the on-the-ground efforts here. |
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Opinion & Analysis |
| CHICAGO TRIBUNE: 'HAMAS GETS ITS WISH' |
| "Short-term, the best hope is that Hamas is sobered into accepting a renewed cease-fire. But the reality remains: There will be no peace in the Middle East and no prosperity for the people of Gaza as long as the provocateurs of Hamas are in charge." |
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| SUN-TIMES: 'HAMAS STARTED FIGHT, ISRAEL HAS TO FINISH IT' |
| "It seems every reasonable corner of the world -- even the Arab heartland -- has concluded that Hamas brought this misery on itself and the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip. If only that attitude could hold. Then there might be reason to hope the Arab world is finally fed up with extremism and ready to reach an accommodation with Israel. But history gives little cause for optimism." |
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| ANALYSIS: 'WHY GAZA MATTERS' |
The New Republic's Yossi Klein Halevi details how the fighting in Gaza will affect Israeli politics, Iranian nuks, moderate Arabs, and the future of the two-state solution. |
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| THE MORE DAMAGE TO HAMAS, THE BETTER THE CHANCES FOR PEACE |
| "If somebody was sending rockets into my house where my two daughters sleep at night, I would do everything to stop that, and would expect Israel to do the same thing," said Barack Obama, while visiting Israel in July.
"Those remarks capture the essence of Israel's right to self-defense. Moreover, the more successful Israel is this week in damaging Hamas as a terrorist force, the better chance Mr. Obama will have to make progress in facilitating a genuine Mideast peace," writes the editorial board of the Wall Street Journal. |
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| JCPA: ISRAEL IS NOT USING 'DISPROPORTIONATE FORCE' IN GAZA? |
Experts at the Jerusalem Center for Public Affairs detail the international laws and statutes regarding using military force against non-civilian non-governmental targets. |
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