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Jewish Groups Pull Support From Oregon Food Bank for Blasting ‘Israel’s Violence’ in Gaza
Israeli soldiers operate in the Gaza Strip amid the ongoing conflict between Israel and Hamas, in this handout picture released on March 5, 2024. Photo: Israel Defense Forces/Handout via REUTERS
A total of 12 Jewish organizations based in Oregon, including nonprofits and five synagogues, announced in a joint statement that they will not support the Oregon Food Bank until it retracts its condemnation of Israel’s military actions during the ongoing Israeli campaign targeting Hamas terrorists in the Gaza Strip.
The local Jewish groups, including the Jewish Federation of Greater Portland, also called on the Oregon Food Bank to issue a new statement “indicating that it will maintain its focus on hunger and its root causes here in Oregon.”
They added, “Until such time we will support other local organizations who are upholding this important mission.”
On April 30, the Oregon Food Bank released a statement that called for an immediate and permanent ceasefire to end “Israel’s violence against Palestinians.” The organization — which collects and distributes food across five main locations in Oregon and southwest Washington — claimed that Israel’s military campaign in the Gaza Strip puts Palestinians in the region “at risk of genocide.” The food bank condemned what it described as “indiscriminate attacks by the Israeli army on Palestinians, including the bombardment of neighborhoods, healthcare facilities, humanitarian aid efforts, and refugee camps.”
“The intentional obstruction of humanitarian relief efforts as well as the deliberate destruction of Palestinian food and lifeways, such as the intentional targeting of bakeries, hospitals, and housing units, exacerbates the suffering and vulnerability of Palestinians,” the food bank added. “These attacks illustrate how blocking food distribution and the weaponization of starvation is a violent tactic of war … Oregon Food Bank’s mission is to end hunger and its root causes. We know that colonial ideologies are root causes of hunger, including the legacy of World War II’s antisemitism, Islamophobia, and hatred, which fuel the current outbreak of violence in Israel and Palestine.”
The statement on April 30 was the first time that the Oregon Food Bank has commented or released a political statement on an international conflict. The food bank also denounced the deadly Oct. 7 attacks committed by Hamas terrorists in southern Israel and called for the release of all hostages abducted that day by the terrorist organization. The group additionally condemned the rise of antisemitism and Islamophobia in Oregon and southwest Washington.
In response, Jewish organizations — including Portland Jewish Academy, Oregon NCSY, and the Oregon Jewish Community Foundation — released a joint statement that accused the food bank of exhibiting a “bias” in its approach to a “complicated international situation.” They said the Oregon Food Bank is wrong for solely blaming the Jewish state for the Israel-Hamas war and “accusing Israel of waging war on a civilian population rather than battling a terrorist organization which brutally murdered, raped, and kidnapped more than a thousand of its citizens.”
The Oregon Food Bank’s statement “also includes false charges of colonialism and genocide which the Oregon Food Bank is not in a position to substantiate,” the Jewish groups said. “Antisemitism is on the rise in our nation and our community. In our view, the false accusations here serve to further fan the flames of Jewish hatred.”
Many of the Jewish groups have been longtime supporters of the Oregon Food Bank as donors and volunteers, some even since the food bank was founded in 1982. “We maintain a commitment to the mission of eliminating hunger in Oregon, and its root causes,” they explained. “But we cannot see how calling on one party of a conflict thousands of miles away to commit to a ceasefire, while allowing the terror organization that broke the ceasefire to continue to flourish on its borders, helps eliminate hunger in Oregon.”
On May 16, the Oregon Food Bank released a statement in recognition of Jewish-American Heritage Month, honoring “the resilience and contributions of Jewish peoples” and recognizing “the deep roots and present actions of antisemitism” across the US. The Jewish organizations said that while they appreciate the food bank’s remarks celebrating Jewish-American Heritage Month, “it does nothing to negate the harm already done.”
The post Jewish Groups Pull Support From Oregon Food Bank for Blasting ‘Israel’s Violence’ in Gaza first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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FBI Investigating ‘Targeted Terror Attack’ in Boulder, Colorado, Director Says
FILE PHOTO: FBI Director Kash Patel testifies before the Senate Appropriations Committee hearing on President Trump’s proposed budget request for the Federal Bureau of Investigation, on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., U.S., May 8, 2025. Photo: REUTERS/Kevin Lamarque/File Photo
FBI Director Kash Patel said on Sunday the agency was aware of and fully investigating a targeted terror attack in Boulder, Colorado.
While he did not provide further details, Patel said in a social media post: “Our agents and local law enforcement are on the scene already, and we will share updates as more information becomes available.”
According to CBS News, which cited witnesses at the scene, a suspect attacked people with Molotov cocktails who were participating in a walk to remember the Israeli hostages who remain in Gaza.
The Boulder Police Department said it was responding to a report of an attack in the city involving several victims. It has not released further details but a press conference was expected at 4 p.m. Mountain Time (2200 GMT).
The attack comes just weeks after a Chicago-born man was arrested in the fatal shooting of two Israeli embassy employees in Washington, D.C. Someone opened fire on a group of people leaving an event hosted by the American Jewish Committee, an advocacy group that fights antisemitism and supports Israel.
The shooting fueled polarization in the United States over the war in Gaza between supporters of Israel and pro-Palestinian demonstrators.
The post FBI Investigating ‘Targeted Terror Attack’ in Boulder, Colorado, Director Says first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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Terrorist Responsible for Death of 21 Soldiers Eliminated
An Israeli F-35I “Adir” fighter jet. Photo: IDF
i24 News – Khalil Abd al-Nasser Mohammed Khatib, the terrorist who commanded the terrorist cell that killed 21 soldiers in the southern Gaza Strip on January 22, 2024, was killed by an Israeli airstrike, the IDF said on Sunday.
In a joint operation between the military and the Shin Bet security agency, the terrorist was spotted in a reconnaissance mission. The troops called up an aircraft to target him, and he was eliminated.
Khatib planned and took part in many other terrorist plots against Israeli soldiers.
i24NEWS’ Hebrew channel interviewed Dor Almog, the sole survivor of the mass casualty disaster, who was informed on live TV about the death of the commander responsible for the killing his brothers-in-arms.
“I was sure this day would come – I was a soldier and I know what happens at the end,” said Almog. “The IDF will do everything to bring back the abductees and to topple Hamas, to the last one man.”
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Stanley Fischer, Former Fed Vice Chair and Bank of Israel Chief, Dies at 81
FILE PHOTO: Vice Chair of the U.S. Federal Reserve System Stanley Fischer arrives to hear Governor of the Bank of England Mark Carney delivering the Michel Camdessus Central Banking Lecture at the International Monetary Fund in Washington, U.S., September 18, 2017. Photo: REUTERS/Joshua Roberts/File Photo
Stanley Fischer, who helped shape modern economic theory during a career that included heading the Bank of Israel and serving as vice chair of the US Federal Reserve, has died at the age of 81.
The Bank of Israel said he died on Saturday night but did not give a cause of death. Fischer was born in Zambia and had dual US-Israeli citizenship.
As an academic at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Fischer trained many of the people who went on to be top central bankers, including former Federal Reserve Chairman Ben Bernanke as well as Mario Draghi, the former European Central Bank president.
Fischer served as chief economist at the World Bank, and first deputy managing director at the International Monetary Fund during the Asian financial crisis and was then vice chairman at Citigroup from 2002 to 2005.
During an eight-year stint as Israel’s central bank chief from 2005-2013, Fischer helped the country weather the 2008 global financial crisis with minimal economic damage, elevating Israel’s economy on the global stage, while creating a monetary policy committee to decide on interest rates like in other advanced economies.
He was vice chair of the Federal Reserve from 2014 to 2017 and served as a director at Bank Hapoalim in 2020 and 2021.
Current Bank of Israel Governor Amir Yaron praised Fischer’s contribution to the Bank of Israel and to advancing Israel’s economy as “truly significant.”
The soft-spoken Fischer – who played a role in Israel’s economic stabilization plan in 1985 during a period of hyperinflation – was chosen by then Finance Minister Benjamin Netanyahu and Prime Minister Ariel Sharon as central bank chief.
Netanyahu, now prime minister, called Fischer a “great Zionist” for leaving the United States and moving to Israel to take on the top job at Israel’s central bank.
“He was an outstanding economist. In the framework of his role as governor, he greatly contributed to the Israeli economy, especially to the return of stability during the global economic crisis,” Netanyahu said, adding that Stanley – as he was known in Israel – proudly represented Israel and its economy worldwide.
Israeli President Isaac Herzog also paid tribute.
“He played a huge role in strengthening Israel’s economy, its remarkable resilience, and its strong reputation around the world,” Herzog said. “He was a world-class professional, a man of integrity, with a heart of gold. A true lover of peace.”
The post Stanley Fischer, Former Fed Vice Chair and Bank of Israel Chief, Dies at 81 first appeared on Algemeiner.com.
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