SWC’S HUMANITARIAN MISSION TO ISRAEL
Dear Wiesenthal Center Supporter,
Words alone cannot adequately explain what we saw and what we experienced during our Humanitarian Mission tostand with our brothers and sisters in Israel in their moment of great need.
The mother standing over her wounded son in Tel Hashomer Hospital, her eyes unable to hide the fear that her son may have come home from Lebanon alive, but the shrapnel that cutthrough his spine may never allow him to walk again.
Photo: The embattled town of Sderot has been hit with over 1,000 kassam rockets. Mayor Moyal shows onethat fell in his backyard to Rabbi Hier, Rabbi Cooper and John Fishel, Los Angeles Jewish Federation President.
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A young soldier we met in the hospital’s lobby on our way to visit the wounded from Lebanon. He was amember of the Elite Special Units that were the first to respond to the Hezbollah attacks. His job was to locate and spot the Hezbollah positions for the Air Force. Hobbling on hiscrutches, he was leaving the hospital to attend the funeral of his two friendsfrom his unit who did not make it.
These brave young men and women are Israel’s best and brightest. They did not have to die. It was not their war. It was a war forced upon them by those who want to destroy the JewishState.
Photo: Visiting a bomb shelter - "home" for these families for the past 3 weeks - 3 flights underground.
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The Northern cities we visited,Nahariya, Kiryat Shemona, the holy city of Safed (Tzefat), where the Kabbalists and mystics sought solace, are today virtual ghost towns. The bustling cafes of the beautiful port city ofHaifa are deserted, the life sucked out of her by the cruel barrage of rockets deliberately aimed at civilian population centers.
On Wednesday, we arrived in the seaside resort town of Nahariya, which has absorbed over 400 rocket attacks. Wearrived at City Hall for an 11:00 a.m. appointment with the Mayor when the sirens sounded. We were told to immediately go down to the bomb shelter, three stories below, where we foundemergency personnel and calm, efficient volunteers gathered and manning the phones and computers. We later heard the Katyusha rocket hit an apartment building just a few blocks away.
Our group included a cardiologist and an Auschwitz survivor. Both were visibly shaken, as we all were by what hadjust occurred. But for us, it would soon be over - our funds had been distributed and our bus was now leaving soon for the relative safety of Jerusalem. But for those left in theNorthern cities, there is no choice. This is what has become their daily struggle.
Photo: With Mayor of Nahariya, Jacky Sabag, the northern city has absorbed over 400 Katushyas from Hezbollah. The SWCdelegation was rushed three storiesunderground to City Hall's bomb shelter. Also pictured in green shirt is retired General Yossi Peled.
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We saw it all -- the hospitals that were deliberately targeted and hit, a classroom in Sederot which was struck just minutes before the young students were scheduled to arrive. We toured thedevastated streets of the Old City of Safed (Tzefat) and helped the staff of Yeshivat Hesder in Kiryat Shemona deliver fresh food to families entering their third week in bomb shelters. This is adifferent war than all the others that have preceded it. This is a war for Israel’s very survival. A war targeting its civilian populations. A war that no country would tolerate. A war thatIsrael must win.
Photo: SWC delegation confers with Israel Foreign Minister Tzippi Livni about latest devlopments in the warwith Hezbollah. Pictured on right Minister Livni, Ido Aharoni and Aviva Schecter, Senior Foreign Ministry officials and (R-L) Rabbis Abraham Cooper, Marvin Hier, Meyer May.
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These sentiments were driven home in the story that the Cabinet Secretary told our group during our meeting inthe Prime Minister’s office: Mrs. Michaeli, a mother who had been living with her five children for weeks in a bomb shelter demanded from a government representative who visited, that sheneeded to speak with the Prime Minister urgently. When Prime Minister Olmert heard the request, he phoned the woman. She said to him, “Mr. Prime Minister, conditions here areunbearable. There is no air, the facilities are unsanitary, and I’m living here with my five children. But I called to tell you do not stop - keep doing what you’re doing - there IS no other way for all of us!”
We thank you for your continued support and solidarity during these difficult times.
Rabbi Marvin Hier, Dean and Founder
Rabbi Abraham Cooper, Associate Dean
Rabbi Meyer H. May, Executive Director
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Photos: Sasson Tiram
