1.JDC help Menachem Begin escaping from Poland to Lithuania during World War 2
2. Until 1947, JDC invested more than 11 mil dollars in different projects in Eretz Israel. Among those projects: Assistance to Jewish refugees, development of research and academia, establishment of welfare institutions and infrastructure, and continued provision of humanitarian relief.
3. JDC funded the appearance of Shoshana Damari and Moshe Wilensky in Cyprus detention camps. The organizers forgot to arrange for them to return on the ship sailing to Eretz Israel.
4. Of the approximately 240,000 Jews in Europe and Arab countries who immigrated to Israel immediately upon the state’s establishment, about 85% arrived with direct assistance from the JDC.
5. JDC was a partner in the establishment of the Israel community centers network – the community centers: cultural, youth and sports centers. JDC has established long-term cooperation with the Society of Community Centers to train personnel and initiate new programs in community centers.
6. In 1952, the JDC established, using a rectangle, the largest hospital in the Middle East in Be’er Yaakov for tuberculosis patients’ treatment. In 1958, the eradication of tuberculosis cases in Israel was announced.
7. The JDC helped rebuild and repair missile-damaged houses during the Gulf War. To perform the work, the Joint hired professionals from among Russian immigrants who immigrated to Israel close to the war.
8. As part of the JDC’s effort to increase access to public space for people with disabilities, in 1994 the JDC made the Western Wall Tunnels in the Old City of Jerusalem accessible to people in wheelchairs.
9. During the Second Lebanon War, the organization developed the Hibuki (based on the Hebrew word for hug – Hibuk) method for coping with post-traumatic stress disorder using a doll. Since then, the method has helped Israeli children in various operations in southern Israel, as well as Japanese children after the tsunami disaster in 2011, and recently even refugee children from Ukraine.
10. In 1958, the JDC helped some 40,000 people in Israel. In 1978, 110,000 people benefited from JDC services in Israel. Today, every week over 1,000,000 Israelis benefit from services the Joint Distribution Committee is involved in them, so, no one is left behind!
