Washington, D.C., -- The New Israel Fund, the preeminent funder and founder of social change organizations and coalitions in Israel, today announced immediate plans for providing special assistance to targeted grantees and sectors in Israel to respond to the current crisis.

After surveying the response of our grantees in the immediate wake of the crisis, we can report they are actively helping to:

• Bus residents to safety in those areas targeted by rocket attack;
• Provide temporary shelters for those forced to evacuate;
• Supply provisional food supplies to areas where scarcities are most severe;
• Offer psychological and medical services to those traumatized by the attacks;
• Target special sectors of Israeli society that are not receiving adequate information regarding the current crisis. And NIF is now formulating an overall strategic plan of crisis support for those communities in northern Israel in which we are actively engaged.

Moreover, the current crisis has highlighted the need for additional advocacy efforts to protect underserved populations. For example, many Arab Israeli towns and villages and disadvantaged Jewish communities lack not only the safe haven of air raid shelters, but warning sirens to indicate incoming fire. NIF will be a driving force in redressing this inequity and others that have surfaced in the face of the conflict.

Based on a series of conversations with municipal leaders and representatives of organizations active in northern Israel, the New Israel Fund staff in Israel has developed an emergency package that combines support to NIF grantees with specific project activities that will be implemented by Shatil, NIF’s Empowerment and Training Center. To assist NIF during this critical period, please visit our website at www.nif.org and make a contribution to the Israel Emergency ’06 Fund, or contact NIF at 1-888-988-3863.