JACKSONVILLE, Fla. — Jewish organizations around the U.S. have shared support for the Trump administration’s move to attack three Iranian nuclear facilities over the weekend. Local organizations are sharing a similar message.
The American Jewish Committee shared a statement on Saturday responding to the bombings, saying, in part:
“In joining Israel’s effort to eliminate the Iranian nuclear threat, the U.S. demonstrated the indelible strength of the U.S.-Israel alliance and the unshakeable values shared by the two countries. The world cannot allow the Iranian regime – the world’s largest state sponsor of terror – to obtain nuclear weapons, capable of reaching Israel and Europe, or to be provided to the regime’s terror proxies around the region and across the globe. Together, the U.S. and Israel have severely hindered this major threat to global security.”
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Action News Jax spoke with Rabbi Shmuli Novack, one of the co-founders and directors of the Chabad at UNF. He feels the targeting of Iran’s nuclear resources was a necessary step in what he hopes is a path to peace.
“I feel like this was more than just a military strike, but it was a moral imperative,” said Rabbi Novack, “it’s a time to bring in a period when there can be no more wars. And this is what we pray for.”
The responses to the bombings are being made a few days after Action News Jax told you about an Iranian missile that hit a hospital in southern Israel, hurting dozens of people.
It’s part of a continuing conflict between Israel and Iran in the Middle East and a growing number of attacks on Jewish communities that have been reported by international organizations.
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The Anti-Defamation League put out a report last month saying 2024 had the highest number of recorded antisemitic attacks than any other year.
More than 9,300 of those attacks were reported in the U.S. Rabbi Novack says the attacks on Jewish communities, the destruction in the Middle East, and the bombings in Iran are part of a chain of violence he is hoping can be over.
“We do not celebrate bombs. We do not celebrate explosions. This is not something we’re hoping for, wishing for,” Rabbi Novack said, “the hope is that this is the end of bloodshed. This is the end of a destabilizing regime in the Middle East. Iran, which has so much American blood on its hands.”
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