Dear Friends,

For the first time, Iran attacked Israel directly last night, firing 331 projectiles from its territory: 185 drones, 110 surface-to-surface missiles, and 36 cruise missiles. Israel, together with the US and coalition forces, successfully intercepted about 99% of them.

Unfortunately, a 7-year-old girl was severely injured and is still in intensive care due to the missile shrapnel hitting her home.

The overwhelming success, however, at intercepting the attack constitutes a significant strategic, operational, and technological achievement. For the first time, it has given shape to a practical defense mechanism against the Iranian-Shiite axis. It also reflects Israel’s long-standing technological superiority. The success tonight may impact the ongoing situation in Gaza, Lebanon, Syria, and other arenas.

The Jewish Agency was fully prepared well before last night, and our staff operated professionally and with compassion throughout our programs. This is already the second Shabbat in which all Jewish Agency facilities doubled their staff, keeping shifts overnight with 7,293 olim at absorption centers and around 7,000 Israeli senior citizens at our Amigour facilities. For the first time, an air-raid siren sounded in Arad, where one of our absorption centers is located, and also in Nitzana, where we have a variety of programs. The Jewish Agency’s emergency roundtable continued to operate and adjust our response in accordance with Home Front Command directives. All educational activities in Israel were canceled, and as a result, The Jewish Agency also decided to cancel all planned activities and trips for the upcoming Passover holiday. Unfortunately, even the camp for children of the Fund for Victms of Terror, which was supposed to begin today with about 800 children and teenagers participating, was canceled. We also canceled a program of Masa with more than 5,000 participants from Jewish communities around the world and across Israel the country; we are maintaining continuous contact with the participants and their parents.

At the same time, we are constantly thinking about the 133 captives still held in Gaza. Four Hamas brigades are still fortified in Rafah. Rocket fire from Lebanon towards northern towns continues. Yesterday, there were clashes in Judea and Samaria, and our Fund for Victims of Terror operated on Shabbat as well. Our hearts ache for the murder of Benjamin Achimeir, a 14-year-old boy. We all send condolences to his family. About 150,000 Israelis remain displaced from their homes in the north and south are living in hotels. The war is not over, and we continue to be vigilant and attentive to security directives.

Alongside the significant military success, this morning brought an official announcement that Hamas rejected the deal for the hostages. This is a difficult announcement to accept, and we will continue to make every effort to bring back the hostages and shape a better regional reality. Together with you, our partners around the world, we continue to pray for the return of the captives and to lead meaningful initiatives for the continued recovery and development of the Jewish, democratic, strong, and inspiring State of Israel.

Concurrent with the widespread support we are providing throughout Israel, we are enhancing and expanding our readiness across Jewish communities worldwide. Our Shlichim are receiving briefings, and we are providing updated guidelines to our Netzigim (senior enjoys) around the globe. We will continue to carry out all our activities even if they need to temporarily shift to the virtual space. In this context, our cyber security apparatus has been operating at emergency readiness since Thursday.

We are grateful to all our friends around the world for the messages and prayers during this tense time. We remain alert and united. We are all preparing to celebrate Passover next week with our families with hope and faith in a better future as we act together in solidarity.

May God grant strength to His people, and may He bless His people with peace.

Yours,

Major General (Res.) Doron Almog
Chairman of the Executive
The Jewish Agency for Israel

Mark Wilf
Chairman of the Board of Governors
The Jewish Agency for Israel