A shipment of 4.5 tons of food was flown today from JFK international Airport here on EI AI planes to Israel and from there will be sent to Ethiopia, a spokesman for the Israel Consulate said today.
The shipment, part of the Israeli government’s assistance to famine stricken Ethiopia, consists of donations arranged by Israel’s Consul General in New York, Naphtali Lavie.
According to the spokesman, the commercial value of today’s shipment is about $100,000. It included over 100,000 portions of protein-enriched concentrated food and supplemental vitamins. The food portions are soya-based in order to avoid known adverse affects on famine victims.
On Tuesday, Lavie and Ambassador Aharon Ofri of the Israel UN Mission, met with the Ethiopian Ambassador to the UN, Berhanu Dinka, and formally informed him of the Israeli assistance. Dinka, the spokesman said, “gratefully acknowledged this humanitarian gesture.”
Meanwhile, in Israel, the Magen David Adom is undertaking a mass fund-raising program to aid the victims of famine in Ethiopia. The campaign by Magen David Adom is in addition to the official Israeli government aid to the Ethiopians.
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