Dear Friend,

On Tuesday, December 9, NCSEJ held its Annual Board of Governors meeting, featuring Senator Cory Booker (NJ) who spoke about combatting bigotry and anti-Semitism, the importance of the State of Israel, and the current situation in Ukraine. The Board also heard from U.S. Special Envoy to Monitor and Combat Anti-Semitism Ira Forman, who reported on the U.S. government's effort to combat the disturbing rise in anti-Semitism in Europe and other regions.

Our other distinguished speakers included Chief Rabbi of Ukraine Yaakov Bleich, who briefed the Board about the latest developments in Ukraine and their implications for the well-being of Ukraine's Jewish community. Ann Levin, Chair of the Dnepropetrovsk Kehillah Project (DKP) of the Jewish Community Relations Council (JCRC) of Boston gave an overview of Boston Dnepropetrovsk partnership and the JCRC delegation's recent trip to Dnepropetrovsk.

Attending Physician in Emergency Medicine at the Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center Dr. James Phillips spoke about his volunteer work with Boston JCRC to help address the needs of the Dnepropetrovsk medical establishment.

We were joined by representatives of member organizations, Jewish Federations, and diplomats from Israel and eight countries of the Eurasia region. Summaries of their remarks as well as all of the speakers will be available shortly on the NCSEJ.org website.

In a significant development yesterday, the U.S. House and Senate passed separate bills in support of Ukraine (H.R. 5859 and S. 2828,) to provide economic and military assistance. The bills authorize provision of at least $1 billion in new loan guarantees and introduce new sanctions on Russian defense and energy enterprises.

The bills' passage by Congress poses a challenge for the Obama administration, which has favored a policy of coordinated U.S.-EU sanctions vis-�-vis Russia. Also yesterday, President Barack Obama cautioned against introducing more sanctions on Russia, seeking to avoid a divide between the U.S. and the EU.

Earlier this month, Israel introduced simplified procedures to ease immigration process for Jews from Ukraine's war-torn regions. In addition, those who already fled the fighting to Israel are now eligible to immigrate.

Sincerely,