We were shocked to read the fabrications distributed by Naomi Ragen to her listserve with severely erroneous information about the Jewish Agency's Fund for Victims of Terror.

As part of the Israel Emergency Campaign of the United Jewish Communities, the Federations of North America, over $300 million were raised to assist the citizens of Israel during the last wave of Palestinian terror.

This assistance included funding school guards for kindergartens and schools, acquisition of air-conditioning units for kindergartens on the seam line, summer camps so that kids could be safe indoors during the vacation, purchasing of armored ambulances and buses as well as civil guard patrol cars, supplying bullet proof jackets, bullet proofing of homes and public facilities, training of guard and explosive sniffing dogs, construction of first aid medical facilities, trauma interventions, to mention a few of the many activities.

The Jewish Agency received allocations for specific programs presented in writing to the United Jewish Communities Israel Emergency Campaign Work Group and submitted detailed reports following the expenditure.

One of the programs that received allocations was the Jewish Agency's Fund for Victims of Terror.

The Jewish Agency's Fund for Terror Victims, the foremost organization in providing financial assistance has distributed more than $16 million to nearly 3,000 families. The fund was chaired by retired Judge Ezra Kama. The first chairman of the fund is today the State Comptroller – Judge Micha Lindenstrauss.

The fund was set up when terror attacks were too numerous for government agencies to process the needed assistance.

The fund was designed to provide three years of support to help terror victims reintegrate into society. That support included equipment for people disabled in terror attacks, extra tuition for children who had missed weeks of school, subsidies for buying a house or paying rent or direct aid for incidentals.

Naomi Ragen has completely warped the truth.

Frankly, we would have expected more from her.

For further information contact:
Michael Jankelowitz
Liaison to Foreign Press
The Jewish Agency for Israel
Cell: 052-6130220
Voicemail: 02-6202780
e-mail: michaelj@jafi.org