At today’s weekly meeting of Israel’s Cabinet, Jewish People Policy Planning Institute officials briefed the group on the JPPPI 2008 assessment. They noted that at the beginning of 2009, the State of Israel and the Jewish People are facing a range of complex and severe challenges and threats, and called attention to the change of administration in the US, geopolitical uncertainty, a continuing erosion in the US’s global position and the slide toward a multi-polar world, the strengthening of Iran, Israel as a pretext for the dissemination of a new anti-Semitism, the risk to Israel’s image as a refuge for the Jewish People against the background of growing calls for its destruction, the economic crisis and the severe below to Jews’ economic status, the impairment of the ability to maintain community life and education systems against the background of growing competition vis-a-vis eroding philanthropy and the diversion of contributions to outside the community, and changes in the traditional family structure.

The JPPPI’s recommendations are as follows:

• Periodic cooperation exercises between the Government and Jewish organizations in order to strengthen Jewish People crisis management;
• Strengthened links between the Government and geopolitical actors in the Jewish organizations;
• Enhanced ties between Jewish communities and the Hispanic and Afro-American communities in the US;
• Increased cooperation between the State of Israel and the Jewish People in dealing with the challenges of the new anti-Semitism;
• Identification of common interests between the western world and Israel and increased cooperation in their regard;
• The Government should consider ways to lower the cost of Jewish education in the Diaspora;
• The removal of constraints to, and the creation of support networks for, the integration of women in the workplace.