Our speaker on September 19, was the Executive Director of the Jewish Federation serving the San Gabriel & Pomona valleys.  Jason studied at Cal State Northridge, earning a BA in Religious Studies then earning a Master of Social Work from USC and finally a Master of Arts in Jewish Communal Service from Hebrew Union College.

The Jewish Federation provides support programs for the Jewish community and serves as a “Jewish Voice” on issues we face in society and internationally. We have all seen news regarding the recent Hamas attacks on Israel, a country roughly 85 miles wide and 290 miles long.  Jason showed us a video by Dennis Preager entitled “The Middle East Problem”.  The video illustrated some of the conflicts between Israel and the neighboring countries of Iraq, Iran, Egypt and Syria. Israel has come under attack on many occasions, essentially defending their right to exist as an independent state.  The bordering “Islamic” nations are not willing to acknowledge and or accept and support that Israel should have the right to exist, some openly vowing to destroy Israel.

Jason summarized some of the recent rocket attacks by Hamas launching as many as 80 rockets a day from the Palestine and the Gaza Strip into Israel.  Israel recently discovered 30+ secret underground tunnels from Palestine into Israel being used to smuggle terrorists into Israel.  These tunnels have mostly been destroyed to prevent further attacks on Israel.  Tom Crosby asked who provides the rockets to Hamas?  Jason believes that much of this weaponry comes from Egypt and is smuggled in to the terrorist organizations.  Jason explained that the Fatah organization is the former Palestine Liberation Organization (PLO) and is a more moderate group, not to be confused with Hamas which is his opinion is clearly a outright terrorist organization with the destruction of Israel as their goal.

What is the outlook for peace in the middle east, not very optimistic.