Iris Epstein, 2015 Annual Campaign chairperson, Judy Diamondstein, assistant executive director, and Vicki Glaser arrived in Israel Saturday morning and spent two days on a kibbutz in the Yoav region. The Lehigh Valley enjoys a special relationship with Yoav, located in south central Israel and well within the reach of Hamas missiles.
“It was a bit surreal hearing the sirens the first time,” Epstein said after having to rush to an underground shelter. “It helped me remain calm seeing how calm everyone else was. It really is a way of life here.” Epstein, Diamondstein and Glaser have had their visit interrupted several times with “Red Alert” sirens warning everyone to immediately take shelter.
The trio will spend the next week traveling across Israel. .
Meanwhile, the Jewish Federation of the Lehigh Valley, in partnership with all local synagogues, has opened the Israel Emergency Campaign to raise money for emergency needs emanating from Israel being under attack. 100 percent of the money donated goes directly to emergency needs.
The money will provide care for homebound elderly and disabled adults during this time of terror, respite for tens of thousands of children fleeing rocket attacks and crisis counseling for Israelis who are overwhelmed by anxiety and in need of relief.
The #StoptheSirens campaign is being conducted in conjunction with Jewish communities across North America.
Already, the money raised is doing good. Tomorrow, 540 children from Yoav will spend the day outside of the frequent rocket zone for a day of respite programming. Their day camps and summer programs have been cancelled due to the incessant missile attacks.
To learn more about the campaign and Israel travelers, visit www.jewishlehighvalley.org.
7 comments:
Fact is Hamas and other fractions of extremists have in the past even used their own 'slow' children as bomb mules and blown up innocent folks in common areas-- and got paid handsomely for the 'sacrifice of their own slow kids.. The Israelis have dropped leaflets via aircraft IN ADVANCE to a strike near military targets- this means they do not intend to hurt civilians. So- They are only playing 'softball' with the other side at this point in time. What would you do ?
Fact is people that live in hatred of one another will never find peace. The UN redrawing of the world map after WWII was sad. It set the region up for a never ending war. The picture is pure Zionist propaganda. That is as bad as some of the pictures used to depict the Japanese and Germans during the war. Such simplistic and hateful propaganda means we will never have peace in the area. Also people with simplistic views of who I right and wrong.
Sad, so very sad!
" The picture is pure Zionist propaganda."
Actually, it is accurate. Hamas does not value human life. They do employ human shields. Their motto, being broadcast to Israelis right now, is "We love death more than you love life."
Incidentally, a Zionist is someone who supports Israel's right to exist. I am a Zionist. So are most people of good will.
You are obviously an anti-Semite.
Sad, so very sad!
Every time this conflict is renewed, which unfortunately is frequently, we hear the exact same rhetoric in the press. It's almost gotten boring, except each time people are dying and living in fear. Jews living in fear, many more of the others dying. Territory that is disputed over constantly. The escalation always seems to happen in a familiar fashion. Will there ever be a meaningful peace, and if so how will it be achieved?
Before you throw out the inflammatory term "anti-Semite", you ought to learn just what a Semite is first.
I guess only Israelis are Semites. You really want to kiss up to the politically correct crowd.
The body count isn't even close. crappy old missiles knocked down by the "Iron dome" defense versus newest weapon systems on earth.
This is a tragedy all around, yet some of you are blinded by hate and propaganda.
That is sad!
No, I can see someone like you hating Arabs, too. You are an anti-Semite.
This is sad!
Ok , Ground assault from Israelis now in progress, boots on the ground, shit going to hit fan now,just like I had posted earlier.
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