JCPA Hails Bush for Freezing Hamas Assets America's Allies Should Follow U.S. Lead

NEW YORK - The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) today released the following statement praising President Bush and his administration for freezing the assets of organizations that support Hamas, the militant Islamic terrorist organization that claimed responsibility for last weekend’s bombings in Israel and numerous other attacks over many years that have killed scores of innocent Israelis and Americans. 

The Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA) hails President Bush’s decision to freeze the assets of a U.S. based organization, the Holy Land Foundation for Relief and Development, and two foreign groups that offer financial support to Hamas. This is the militant Islamic organization listed on the State Department’s list of terrorist organizations responsible for murdering scores of Israelis and Americans. 

As President Bush expands his war against terrorism to include the American financiers  of Palestinian terrorism – a move which we have urged for years – he will have the strong support of the American Jewish community. 

The JCPA urges America’s allies in Western Europe and elsewhere to follow suit and to shut down the trail of money that flows to those who commit acts of terror. 

Other Palestinian terrorist organizations operating within the territories of the Palestinian Authority receive critical funds from American donors and others abroad and must also be the focus of government actions. Identifying and cutting off the stream of funding for global terrorism is an important part of what America can do to help ensure that innocent people here, in Israel and in other parts of the world are not slaughtered in the streets. 

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JCPA, the public affairs arm of the organized Jewish community, serves as the national coordinating and advisory body for the 13 national and 123 local agencies comprising the field of Jewish community relations.