Leaders of Rochester Jewish community respond to Iran’s attack on Israel

ROCHESTER, N.Y. (WROC) – As Israel weighs a response following Iran’s weekend attack, Israel’s foreign minister says he is leading a ‘diplomatic offensive’ against Iran to ease tensions between the two countries.

Meantime, local leaders in the Jewish Community are keeping a close watch, including Meredith Dragon, CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Rochester.

Dragon routinely visits Israel and was last there in February. While a number of unknowns remain on the future of the war, and Israel’s response, one thing she says remains certain: the resiliency of its people.

“Life will never be back to normal anytime soon, but people are trying to live their lives while recognizing there’s still a lot of trauma and pain and suffering in the region,” said Dragon.

As the U.S. House Speaker has outlined a plan to pass aid for Israel through Congress, a response toward Iran’s retaliatory attack may be in sight.

“Fortunately, with the help of incredible allies like the U.S. and Great Britain, France, Saudi Arabia and Jordan, what could have been an incredibly devastating attack was thwarted. 99 percent of the missiles, drones, crews missiles, ballistic missiles, never even made it into Israeli airspace and the ones that landed did minimal damage. So, in a moment where Israel is still reeling from October 7th and obviously, a war waged on them by terrorism, Iran, which has been the proxy for many of these terrorist groups, really tried a very blatant attack and fortunately, was not successful. But, it was a scary moment certainly,” said Dragon.

As the war with Hamas continues, she says the neglect of a ceasefire agreement remains at the forefront.

“As the missiles are being shot by Iran, Hamas once again walked away from a ceasefire offer by Israel. It was a real ceasefire offer and Hamas walked away. So, it’s deeply concerning that Hamas continues to decline a ceasefire agreement and the hostages are still held in captivity,” said Dragon.

Dragon says that is among the biggest concerns, where 133 hostages are still being held captive with their whereabouts unknown, six of them are Americans. Dragon is hoping to visit Israel in the coming weeks on behalf of the Jewish Federation.

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