IDF Offers Aid to Turkey After Deadly Earthquake

Stand for Israel | October 30, 2020

Magnitude 6.6 quake shakes Turkey's Aegean Sea coast — IZMIR, TURKEY - OCTOBER 30: Search and rescue works are being conducted at debris of a building in Bayrakli district after a magnitude 6.6 quake shook Turkey's Aegean Sea coast, in Izmir, Turkey on October 30, 2020. At least six people were killed and 202 others injured when a magnitude 6.6 earthquake jolted the city of Izmir on the Turkish Aegean on Friday, according to the nationâs disaster agency. (Photo by Mehmet Emin Menguarslan/Anadolu Agency via Getty Images)

An earthquake devastated Turkey’s third largest city today, toppling buildings and leaving dozens dead or injured. The Times of Israel reports that in the wake of the disaster, the Israeli military has offered its assistance to its Middle Eastern neighbor in this time of need:

Israel offered to immediately send an IDF search and rescue team to Turkey on Friday, after a deadly earthquake toppled buildings in the city of Izmir, killing at least 12 people. Two teens also died in a wall collapse on the Greek Island of Samos.
A strong earthquake struck Friday between the Turkish coast and Samos, collapsing buildings in Turkey’s western Izmir province. Dozens more were injured.
Defense Minister Benny Gantz ordered the Israel Defense Forces Home Front Command to prepare to send a team and assistance to Turkey, the defense ministry said…
Israel’s Magen David Adom also reached out to the Red Crescent in Turkey and the Red Cross in Greece offering assistance, the group said.
Israel has sent rescue missions to Turkey in the past, with teams assisting after the devastating 1999 earthquake in the country…

Let us pray for the safety of all those in Turkey, Greece, and elsewhere affected by the earthquake. And let us thank God for giving Israel, as Rabbi Eckstein wrote in his final message, a big heart:

As Israeli Prime Minister Netanyahu put it eloquently in 2010 after sending a relief team to assist survivors of a devastating earthquake in Haiti: “This is the true heritage of the state of Israel and the Jewish people … We may be a small country, but we are a country with a big heart. This is the expression of Jewish ethics and heritage – to help others.”
The quickness of Israel’s response is rooted in the sobering fact that the threat of terrorism has forced Israel to find new and creative ways to save lives. Israel gladly shares its knowledge in Brazil, as it has in years past when other humanitarian needs have surfaced throughout the world…