Millions Diverted From School Guards


As though Israel does not have enough problems with its terrorist "neighbors" they also have what seems corruption to contend with.

Only $8 million of the $20 million raised from American Jews to provide security guards for Israel’s schoolchildren will be used for that purpose, The Jewish Week has learned.

“Something doesn’t smell good,” said Hilik Goldstein, a spokesman for the Union of Local Authorities, which is hiring the guards for Israel’s 124 municipalities and who revealed the funding cutback.

“We thought that all the $20 million would go directly to hiring security guards,” Goldstein said. “But that’s not to be. I’m not saying the $12 million has vanished, but I don’t know what will be with it.”

That disclosure comes on the heels of a report in The Jewish Week last week that schools in Israel opened Sept. 1 without any of the $20 million being used to hire security guards.

The United Jewish Communities, which raised the money beginning in April as part of its Israel Emergency Campaign, had highlighted the fears of Israeli parents in its appeal for funds.