FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

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JCPA CONDEMNS ATTACKS ON ISRAELI RELIGIOUS INSTITUTIONS

New York – July 7, 2000 – Dr. Leonard Cole, chair of the Jewish Council for Public Affairs (JCPA), expressed horror at the acts of vandalism and desecration at the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College campus, the fifth documented attack, on an Israeli non-Orthodox religious institution in recent weeks. Condemning the most recent attack, Dr. Leonard Cole issued the following statement:

"We are horrified by the acts of vandalism and desecration at the Reform movement’s Hebrew Union College campus and the Conservative movement’s Ya’ar Ramot synagogue. These despicable events -- shocking and hateful in any nation, but how much more so in the Jewish state -- serve as a call to action to those committed to tolerance and comity in the Jewish world.

The JCPA calls upon Israeli law enforcement agencies vigorously to investigate these incidents and prosecute those responsible. Protection of any threatened religious institution should be enhanced as we pause to consider the horror of these acts."

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The Jewish Council for Public Affairs is the public affairs arm of the organized American Jewish community and serves as the national coordinating and advisory body for the 13 national and 122 local agencies comprising the field of Jewish community relations.