Friends,

A few days ago, Heidi wrote to you from Sha’ar HaNegev following our second Solidarity Mission as Israeli artillery in Gaza boomed in the background. We spent four intense and emotional days trying to understand the impact of the October 7 attack and its aftermath, and are still processing all we experienced. Now, just days later, Israel finds herself under attack once again, this time directly from Iran and from Hezbollah in the North, which appears to be ongoing. We are grateful that the IDF and the Israeli air defense with, as President Biden stated, “the ironclad support” of the U.S., was able to prevent significant damage or casualties from the attack.

Jewish Federations of North America will hold an online briefing tomorrow at tomorrow at 10 a.m. ET (7 a.m. PT) with the latest updates on the situation, what to expect in the coming days and how we can best support our Israeli brothers and sisters. Jewish Federation of San Diego will continue to stand strong alongside Israel and will also be carefully monitoring any threats at here home in this moment of heightened tension.

Please see below a statement from JFNA CEO Eric Fingerhut and Board Chair Julie Platt:

We are all following with the greatest alarm the events in Israel this evening as Israel has come under attack by Unmanned Aerial Vehicles (UAV) launched from Iran and missiles from Iran and Hezbollah. We know you join with us in sending our total and complete support to all our brothers and sisters in Israel, especially the Israeli Defense Forces who are on the front lines. We also express our gratitude to the American armed forces and other allies who are helping defend our beloved State of Israel. 

We have posted a statement. As well, we have been in touch with all our security partners and we will continue to monitor the situation at home. We know that we are all operating at the highest level of vigilance.

Secure Community Network has released this statement and CSI New York has urged the community to "stay calm and carry on." 

We are aware of several Federations with lay leaders and staff in Israel. If you need anything in Israel, please contact Dani Wassner. Our Israel staff will mobilize to be of assistance.

We will offer a special briefing tomorrow, Sunday April 14th, at 10 am ET. Register here. As always, we will provide regular updates as needed.