PEORIA, Ill. – Around this time last year, the Peoria Riverfront Museum hosted an event titled “Women Leading a Dialogue.” It featured women from Israel of Jewish and Muslim faiths talking about living together and bringing different faiths together.
The head of the Jewish Federation of Peoria, Susan Katz, says she still keeps in touch with the women who spoke that day. And Katz tells WMBD’s “Greg and Dan” that she checked in on them recently as the war between Israel and Hamas entered its third week.
“We were on a call with them Sunday,” Katz said. “One of the Muslim women lives in a small village on the border with Lebanon, she’s been evacuated. She said she took two suitcases full of whatever she could. She has a son who’s in the IDF who’s fighting on the border with Gaza. Another woman on the call has three children in the IDF. It’s an incredibly difficult time.”
Katz says one of the things that keeps the women motivated is knowing that they have the support of the people of Peoria.
Katz says the Jewish Federation of Peoria has established a couple ways for people to provide support for those affected by the conflict. One of them focuses on the hostages being held by Hamas, which include babies as young as six-months old.
“We need to bring those people back. So we’re asking people to wear a blue ribbon to support that,” Katz said.
More than 200 people are still being held hostage by Hamas, including 10 Americans. Two hostages released last week were from the Chicago suburbs.
Katz says the Federation has also established an emergency campaign on their website to provide humanitarian aid to those rebuilding their lives in Israel.
