L.A.’s Young Iranian Jewish professionals hot for Israel Bonds

[King_David]

The Iranian Jewish community in Los Angeles and New York has always had a very special and strong love of Israel, making the community’s activists one of the strongest allies the State of Israel has in diaspora. I’ve had the rare pleasure of witnessing the young generation of Iranian American Jews particularly supportive and encouraging their friends and family to invest in Israel Bonds. These bonds are not charity or giving money away to just any worthy cause, but rather an investment in the infrastructure and development of countless amazing projects in Israel. Those who invest in turn get their money back plus interest after five or more years.

Earlier this month I had the unique opportunity to hear Avi Balashnikov, a former Israeli government official speak about the tremendous successes of Israel Bonds in the growth of Israel over the last near seven decades. Balashnikov, who is currently the chairman of the board of the “Ronald Lauder Center for Employment in the Negev”, spoke to a gathering of 50 young Iranian Jewish professionals at the Bel Air home of a prominent Iranian Jewish family. For his part Balashnikov has spent quite a substantial amount of time in Israel’s public sector working as director general of the State Comptroller’s Office, director general of the Knesset, director general of the President’s House and director general of the Ministry of Communications. He also currently serves on the boards of numerous institutions and organizations within Israel. Despite the significant upheaval today in much of the Middle East, Israel unsurprisingly is the epicenter of growth, financial stability and a thriving democracy said Balashnikov. A large part of Israel’s sustained growth, incredible development and ability to integrate immigrants from around the world has come from outside investment into the country from funds derived from Israel Bonds.

http://www.jewishjournal.com/iranianamericanjews/item/l.a.s_young_iranian_jewish_professionals_hot_for_israel_bonds

[6chars]

1. 3.6% on ten year bonds.

that's about 1% better than US ten year bonds. Might be nice to add to the old portfolio.

[Little Tich]

2. The “Ronald Lauder Center for Employment in the Negev” is one of those rightwing organizations that

are connected to the Jewish National Fund and they're trying to evict Arab Israelis from their lands in the Negev in order to replace them with Jewish Israelis.

Here's an article from Haaretz on this issue:

Court-approved Dispossession of Israeli Bedouin
Source: Haaretz editorial, May 13, 2015

The government must adopt an egalitarian planning policy that will take into account both the needs of Arab residents and the injustice that has been done to them.

Two Supreme Court rulings from last week give a judicial stamp of approval to the dispossession of Arab communities on both sides of the Green Line for the benefit of the Jewish settlement enterprise.

Last Tuesday, the court rejected an appeal by residents of the Negev Bedouin town of Umm al-Hiran, who are slated to be evicted and their houses razed so that a Jewish town, to be called Hiran, can be built on the site. The court insisted that Hiran would be open to everyone, but it is meant as a community for Orthodox Jews and therefore would not to be conducive to the integration of
Bedouin.

During the proceedings, the Bedouin residents succeeded in proving that they are not squatters and have every right to live in the area, having been sent there by the military government in 1956. Nonetheless, the majority justices deemed that fact insufficient to alter their decree. Only Justice Daphne Barak-Erez, who dissented, thought it should obligate the state to consider compensating the Bedouin by giving them a building lot in the new town of Hiran.

The story of Umm al-Hiran highlights the problem of the “unrecognized” Bedouin villages, which although their inhabitants are Israeli citizens do not receive basic services because they lack master plans. Some of these villages have existed since before the state was founded. Others, like Umm al-Hiran, resulted from the expulsion of Bedouin from their lands.

Read more: http://www.haaretz.com/opinion/1.656170