AJC Joins with Israeli Relief Group to Assist South Sudan

[Ari Gordon <gordona@ajc.org>]

AJC Joins with Israeli Relief Group to Assist South Sudan

July 10, 2011 - New York - AJC is teaming up with the Israeli humanitarian 
organization IsraAID to deliver assistance to South Sudan, Africa's newest 
nation, which became an independent country yesterday.

"While we celebrate South Sudan's birth, its people face daunting challenges 
that require urgent international assistance," said AJC Executive Director Dvid 
Harris. "We are pleased to join with IsraAID, our longstanding Israeli partner 
in responding to humanitarian crises around the world, to help many refugees in 
South Sudan who fled from the violence with their northern neighbor. The noble 
work of IsraAID is emblematic of Israel's humanitarian ethos."

South Sudan, one of the world's poorest nations, gained independence after more 
than five decades of civil war with the larger and predominantly Arab, Muslim 
north. "We call on the international community, led by the United States, which 
did so much to bring about South Sudan's independence, to remain fully engaged 
as the country begins a new chapter."

AJC has partnered with IsraAID: The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian 
Aid in a number of crises, including Sri Lanka after the South Asian tsunami in 
2004, a devastating earthquake in Peru in 2007, a tropical storm that hit the 
Philippines in 2009, the catastrophic earthquake in Haiti in 2010, and the 
earthquake tsunami in Japan earlier this year.

>Posted by:
>Ari M. Gordon
>Special Advisor, Interreligious
>and Intergroup Relations
>American Jewish Committee
>165 E56th Street
>New York, NY 10022
>(212)891-6717