From Our CEO
Report From Solidarity Mission in Israel
July 30th, 2014

This morning, I got off the plane following an intense and emotional solidarity mission to Israel. Joined by 20 UJA-Federation of New York leaders, we went to Israel to provide comfort to Israelis, but in the end, it was they who comforted us. We witnessed the courage and resilience of those who have been living under direct threat for weeks and, in some harrowing cases, years.

Sharing Heartache and Witnessing Courage
The goal of our mission was clear. With Israel suffering daily casualties, we came to say: you are not alone in this. We also wanted to see what our support was making possible and what more might be needed.

We met Israelis like Tal and Stav, two 16-year-old girls who live within miles of Gaza. Fear of the tunnels keeps them up at night. Tal spoke of girls in her neighborhood who won’t shower because they are scared that in the event of an attack, they won’t make it to a shelter in time. Tal could go stay with relatives up north. She chooses to remain because her mother — who operates the local resilience center — trained her to recognize signs of shock and trauma in the shelter, which is run by the Israel Trauma Coalition, a UJA-Federation grantee. At just 16, Tal assists her mother in treating others. Both girls were with a large group traveling to a much needed day of respite, funded by the Jewish Agency for Israel, one of our overseas partners.

UJA-Federation CEO Eric S. Goldstein visits a wounded soldier.

At Barzilai Medical Center in Ashkelon, UJA-Federation is funding life-saving equipment. Since the conflict began, 872 people, including 448 soldiers, have been treated there. In one room there were three recently wounded IDF soldiers — one Jewish, one Druze, and one Bedouin. All were extremely touched by our visit. When a siren sounded, we ran to a shelter and then returned. It was a sad irony that we could run to shelter but the soldiers could not. They remained in hospital rooms that are not fortified.

At the JDC Center for Independent Living in Beersheva, operated by the American Jewish Joint Distribution Committee (JDC) with our support, we met volunteers who are making phone calls to the 3,200 people with disabilities in the Beersheva area to understand their needs and make sure they are met.

Emotions were especially high when the mission traveled to a cemetery in Modi’in to meet Ofir and Bat Galim Shaar, the parents of Gilad Shaar, one of three teens who was kidnapped and murdered. This was the first time Gilad’s parents had been to the cemetery since their son’s funeral earlier this month. Gilad’s father spoke about the unity in Israel generated by the abduction. We expressed our heartache and how the murders had also united Jews across North America.

A mother and son's family home damaged by rockets in Sderot.

There was not a single rocket in Sderot that day, giving us reason to hope that we were on the cusp of a cease-fire. In the afternoon, though, just as we were leaving the cemetery, we learned that five soldiers had been killed in Eshkol by terrorists who came out of a tunnel in Kibbutz Be’eri. It was just one little indication of how quickly hope turns to despair here, with enormous psychological impact.

Read more stories from the ground and see a video about the psychological wounds of living in Sderot, a city that has been battered by rocket fire for many years.

 

Mobilizing a Community
While we were in Israel, UJA-Federation mobilized the New York Jewish community at a rally across from the United Nations. With the world watching and the media on alert, 15,000 New Yorkers gathered Monday, waving banners that read “We Are All Israel.” In her moving opening remarks, UJA-Federation President Alisa Doctoroff delivered a powerful message to the people of Israel, “We are here for you.” The rally was organized by UJA-Federation of New York and the Jewish Community Relations Council of New York (JCRC), along with Jewish groups from across the denominations.

See photos of the New York Jewish community in all its diversity share a message of hope and support for Israel.

Coming Together for Israel
Everything we make possible is with thanks to the generosity of people like you. As the crisis drags on, needs are escalating. Give today and help us provide critical aid for the people of Israel.

We hope we can count on you today.