Victims donating to victims

January 23, 2009 - 10:26 AM by Harry

Hadas BalasThroughout the recent Gaza war and its ongoing aftermath, Israelis and Palestinians have been trying to paint themselves as “the real victims” and the other side as “the real perpetrators.” But if we’re all victims, then how can we possibly take responsibility for war spearheaded by our leaders? And if we’re all perpetrators, then why would we care?

The fact is, Operation Cast Lead has meant horrible levels of destruction for the infrastructure and people of the Gaza Strip, destruction which could have been avoided if Hamas hadn’t hidden behind the human shield of one of the most densely populated areas in the world. And as we’ve seen on ISRAELITY before, just because Israelis support our government’s recent war against a terrorist regime that’s been shooting rockets at us for years doesn’t mean that we’re numb to the damage done.

Two grassroots activists are trying to organize Israeli sympathy into material support for Gazan families whose lives and homes were recently under severe fire by the region’s military superpower. 27-year-old peacenik Lee Ziv and Sapir Academic College 25-year-old student Hadas Balas (pictured, doubling as a not-so-shabby singer-songwriter) decided to collect clothing, bedding, nourishment and other essentials from donors to bring them in to Gaza.

Ziv spoke with the Jerusalem Post this week:

“There is no connection to politics,” said Ziv. “We don’t represent a side, we just see an immediate need for blankets for people who have nothing to cover them at night and milk for infants who have nothing to eat.”

Since a short radio interview on Sunday morning, Ziv said her phone had been ringing off the hook. “Within two minutes of the interview, I had 40 voice messages. The response has been overwhelming. Schools have called asking how they can help. A father called who had three sons serving in the IDF in Gaza. A woman called who had a mortar fall on her house.”

The duo thought they’d be bringing one or two truckloads of supplies in today, but thanks to the viral snowball of their email campaign, media interest like the radio interview last week, and the bandwagoning on their efforts by some key human rights organizations, the donations have been so numerous that they’re spearheading a fleet of 10 full trucks.

According to coverage in Haaretz, the duo has accomplished this feat thanks to key help from organizations like Hashomer Hatzair in Jerusalem, Beit Hachesed in Haifa and Kibbutz Kfar Aza, the Qassam-battered community which has offered up its warehouses as a depot for the donations.

More information on donating to the operation can be found here.

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Comments

3 Comments on Victims donating to victims

  1. David-Joe on Sun, Jan 25th 2009 2:10 AM

    2. This naive and erroneous idea that too many Israelis have – “if only they like us and think that we are kind” – peace will emerge.

    Don’t you realize it has nothing to do with that?

    Do you imagine that if Jewish people had done a similar thing in nazi Germany it would have made a shred of differnce? No. Well it wont make a difference with the ARabs either.

    And the so-called Palestinians have similar goals – the destruction of Israel. The only reason there is ANY form of peace is because of the Zahal, and the determination to use it and use it – relative to the past few years – with extremely good effect.

    Speak to regular Palestinians in New York City. They live here, their kids are Americans born and raised, yet they openly declare that Hamas is a “freedom fighting” organization. They view Israel as a foreign entity to gotten rid of.

    So all the touchy feely BS is okay but useless and pointless.

    Theonly language the Arabs understand is that if they attack Israel they will suffer.

    And the only thing that will motivate the Arabs to peace in addition is if they begin to care about their children. At this juncture they clearly do not so how can they care not to try and harm Jews?

    Aint gonna happen.

  2. Viva Israela! « Ray Cook on Wed, Feb 25th 2009 11:14 AM

    3. [...] are of Israel, indeed, more so. Sadly, the world does not see this side of Israel. Read it all here http://israelity.com/2009/01/23/victims-donating-to-victims/ Posted by admin Israel and Gaza Subscribe to RSS [...]

  3. Gaza civilians experience difficulty in receiving aid | Politics News on Sat, Apr 18th 2009 5:06 PM

    4. [...] like you that are longing for a real peace like a lot of israelis like me. Israeli blogger Harry Rubenstein in Modi’in, Israel says that Israelis are concerned about the humanitarian situation: [...]

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