AJC Supports Israeli, Greek Jewish Effort to Assist Syrian Refugees

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Sep 21, 2015, 09:28 ET

NEW YORK, Sept. 21, 2015 /PRNewswire-USNewswire/ -- AJC has donated funds and dispatched staff to Greece to support a much-needed relief effort led by IsraAID to assist Syrian refugees, who have arrived in the European Union nation in massive numbers this year.

The effort is being carried out in conjunction with KIS, the Central Board of Jewish Communities in Greece, a long-standing AJC international partner.

"The Jewish tradition commands us to respond generously and compassionately to those in need. During this holiest period of the Jewish year, we are proud to assist, together with our Israeli and Greek Jewish partners, in offering vital help to Syrians who fled the horrific war in their homeland and seek a new start," said AJC Executive Director David Harris. "It is especially noteworthy that our Greek Jewish friends, despite the immense economic challenges they and their countrymen have been facing, chose to respond without hesitation to the plight of the Syrian refugees in an effort to help save lives and restore hope."

AJC staff members based in Jerusalem and Paris, together with a representative of KIS, have arrived on the Greek island of Lesbos to work with IsraAID in providing direct assistance.

AJC has partnered over the years with IsraAID, a leading Israeli non-governmental relief organization, in responding to a number of humanitarian crises around the world, including assisting Syrian refugees in Jordan.

SOURCE American Jewish Committee