Last night I went to the movies. Here, in the center of Israel we go to work and school as usual. The theatre was packed. I assume that everyone there, just like me, could not watch the news any more. I saw a great film called, Australia. I thought it was going to be a mushy film about love. It was and it wasn’t. It was the story of two nations, or three actually, and how fear of the other can turn into hatred. It was about how love conquers all. I thought I was getting away from it all. I have spent the past few days contacting the projects in the South that NCJW has provided funds for over the past few years. Most of what I hear in their voices is defeat. “Again?” they seem to be asking. Israel is 60 years old and we have gone through 10 wars — some big, some small. Again? Two years ago it was up North, now it is down South.

The only good news around this war is that the Israeli government has learned from the mistakes of the last war about how to organize the civilian frontlines. Most of the bomb shelters are open and operating so that the half a million Israelis who have been using them for the last week are safe.
One exception is the Eden hostel, located not far from the border with Gaza. The Eden Hostel is a therapeutic hostel for 25 girls who have been court ordered out of their homes for various reasons. During the second Lebanese war, NCJW sponsored a three-day trip to Jerusalem for these girls. It got them out of the lines of missile fire — which the South was experiencing even while the North was at the front line with Lebanon. Since then the government has provided the Eden hostel with three bomb shelters. Sadly, they are not installed yet. Since the hostel is in the “war zone” this is not the week to “install” bomb shelters. This is the week to get out of the line of fire. I have been working with the Eden hostel to try and organize respite for them in the center of the country — where people like me get to go to the movies. I think a ceasefire with Hamas is probably a faster solution for the girls in the Eden Hostel. The bureaucracy Eden must go through to allow the 25 girls to temporarily move locations is too difficult.

The Bedouins in the Israeli town of Rahat certainly do not have bomb shelters. They were unfortunately bombed this week by the Hamas. A number of Israeli Arabs were killed by katusha rocket fire from Gaza this week as well. Bombs do not discriminate. The Negev Institute for Strategies of Peace and Development (NISPED) organization is working to try to maintain order within the Israeli Bedouin community — a community whose very identity is a dilemma. Are we Israelis? Are we Arabs? While tiptoeing between missiles, unprotected by bomb shelters, they wonder — whose side are we on?

The Mahapach project has closed its operations in S’derot. Unlike Kiryat Shemona, where the NCJW mission visited in 2007, Mahapach could not guarantee the safety of the children in their programs. Via telephone they are in contact with parents and children, pondering the “Day After.” How do we pick up the pieces and go on from here? Is it business as usual? I don’t think so.

And so it goes on. In one month Israel will elect its 32nd Prime Minister in 60 years. Every 2-1/2 years we have elections. These elections make policymaking more than difficult, they make it impossible. Campaign promises and statements on the national budget, on safety nets for at-risk populations, education reform, strict legislation on trafficking, and freedom for the agunot have all been put on hold while the military situation in the South is resolved. It is not easy to run a country this way. Right now, the people we are concerned about here in Israel need our support. They need to know that organizations such as NCJW are concerned about them. Just knowing that we care and we are monitoring the situation is a relief. I am in contact on a regular basis with the people and the projects that we have helped to fund and support through our Israel Granting Program. Many of these people and projects are now caught up in the conflict in the South. This is the time when our responsibilities as partners and donors revolve around fact-finding, advocating, and acting — not just writing a check. Through NCJW’s relationships and connections, we are trying to help find solutions to immediate problems on the ground.
  
NCJW reaches out to people. Let us hope that this war in the South ends sooner rather than later, so that perhaps, we can all begin to rebuild the lives of the two peoples who have been in conflict for over 100 years. As for the movie I saw last week, Australia, in 2004 the Government of Australia commissioned the NCJW Research Institute for Innovation in Education at Hebrew University to create a holistic rejuvenation and educational project for the Aborigine community. This was part of a nation-wide attempt to close the gaps and heal the wounds amongst the diverse populations of Australia. NCJW is proud to have played a small part in the process.

Note:
* The Eden Hostel has been funded by N. Virginia Section 2006, Adrienne and Bill Taft, Adrienne and Geoff Lurie 2007, Miami Teens 2008
* Mahapach has been funded by NCJW’s N. Virginia Section 2007, 2008, 2009
* NISPED has been funded by NCJW’s Bergen County Section 2005