January 4, 2009

Israeli troops have entered Gaza to fight the Hamas terrorists face-to-face and bring an end to rocket fire on innocent people in Israel. Thousands of our boys are currently fighting in the Hamas-created hell called the Gaza strip, leaving their mothers, fathers, and other loved ones at home, praying with all their might for God's cloud of glory to protect them on this unavoidable, yet terrifying, mission. And it is not just relatives who worry about our troops. Since our country is so small, every Israeli knows that each life is precious, and every child is like our own.

We Israelis yearn for peace. We have signed treaties, negotiated with enemies, and even evacuated our own citizens from their homes in Gaza, hoping that our neighbors will see our desire to live peacefully side-by-side with them, and will respond by changing their violent ways. However, because of terrorists’ refusal to renounce violence, peace has remained just a dream for us.

In the past seven years over 7,000 rockets have landed in Israel, wounding and killing scores of our people. Throughout all of this, Israel has not responded harshly – not because we are weak, but out of our desire, perhaps naïve, to find a peaceful solution. We know we have enemies, but we would much rather work together with them than fight them. A famous Rabbi was once quoted as saying that "when our enemies fire a bullet they pray to God for it to hit its target, yet when we Israeli's fire a weapon we pray to God that Messiah comes before that bullet causes harm to anyone."

It is because our foundation is godly, and our intentions holy, that the cries of “disproportionate response” against Israel seem so absurd. After enduring years of rocket fire, terror, and deadly threats, and trying for so many years to bring a peaceful end to this bloody conflict, these accusations are particularly painful for Israelis to hear.

The terrorists are extending their reach, and every day rockets land closer to where I am sitting in Jerusalem. No one has any idea if and when they will stop. Nearly a quarter of Israel’s residents are currently living in bomb shelters, scared for their lives because of Hamas’s terrorist tactics of firing rockets into civilian neighborhoods. Many people have been killed in the past week, including a defenseless young mother of four. Hundreds more have been sent to the hospital, suffering varying degrees of injury. No one is immune from this horrendous threat, and we all feel the pain of Israel’s southern residents. Each time another rocket lands, the shrapnel penetrates our souls and we cry out louder, begging to see God’s mercy revealed.

Every day I travel with Fellowship staff through the war zone of southern Israel, filling the many needs that arise, and witnessing rockets falling nearby. We don’t sit in our safe buildings outside the range of the rockets, but experience the pain with the people of Israel – the shortness of breath and pumping heart one feels when a rocket lands just yards away. We sit next to the immigrants and elderly in the bomb shelters, telling them that Christians in America stand with them, and will provide all they are lacking in this time of war.

Prior to the war, The Fellowship funded the renovation of bomb shelters that are saving Israeli lives. They are now equipped with, beds, heaters, food, and other necessities. New emergency trauma centers are operational in war torn areas. I believe that The Fellowship’s work is divinely blessed – and the success in our efforts is the proof!

Just yesterday, when crucial aid provided by The Fellowship was brought to an elderly woman living in Sderot, she told me with tears streaming down her cheeks that “this help is another miracle to add to my list. In Israel we don’t just believe in miracles, we rely on them.” Stepping outside her building and seeing the remnants of a rocket that fell just hours before in a parking lot less than 200 yards from this helpless old lady’s apartment, I understood exactly what she was talking about.

Hope and courage are the attributes that we see repeatedly in our role models from the Bible, and those are the attributes that we all aspire to possess. When Joshua entered Israel he was not greeted with peaceful neighbors and open arms, but rather war and violence. He was commanded by God to fight – and, like him, we must fight for our survival on this ancient land of Israel that God promised to the Jews.

But there is one important difference between our fight and Joshua’s. Today, we Israelites are not fighting alone. With each rocket and every desperate request for aid, we have Christians standing by our side with their arms open, providing for all of the needs that otherwise would not be met. We have encouragement through love and prayer, and physical sustenance through sacrificial giving by friends like you. We have The Fellowship to bridge us together and connect all the pieces.

Thank you for your support during this most critical time. With prayers for peace, and safety and success for our soldiers in combat,
Yael