Operation Olive Branch: Israel Reaches Out to Earthquake Victims

Stand for Israel | February 6, 2023

IDF aid to Turkey after earthquake, February 6, 2023 — (Photo: IDF Spokesperson's Unit)

Stand for Israel has joined the world in praying for God’s healing and protection over those across the Middle East affected by massive earthquakes in Turkey. The Jerusalem Post’s Yonah Jeremy Bob reports on help that Israel is providing, as an IDF team is on its way:

In the coming hours, 150 IDF rescue personnel will take off to Turkey to assist with the earthquake disaster response as part of Operation Olive Branch.

IDF Home Front Command foreign rescue chief Col. Golan Voch told a briefing of military reporters on Monday night, “We are ready to leave in the coming hours. We are a special small rescue staff of 150 specialists.”

But he said, “This is not the first Home Front Command foreign rescue mission. This is the thirty-first mission in 40 years.”

The IDF has long helped Israel’s international neighbors in their time of need. The Jerusalem Post’s Seth J. Frantzman tells us how the Israeli military can aid the victims of this disaster:

Israel has decades of experience in providing aid in the wake of earthquakes and natural disasters, including in Greece in 1953, Mexico in 1985 and Armenia, Greece and Turkey in the 1990s. More recently, Israel provided such aid to India, Sri Lanka, Haiti, Nepal and Mexico.

One reason Israel can help in these disasters is that it has expertise in search and rescue from its own long experience dealing with threats of conflict and natural disasters, including possible earthquakes.

The Jerusalem Post has in the past interviewed those involved in various disaster-relief efforts, including members of the IDF Home Front Command Search and Rescue Unit. A report was published in 2021 for the Post’s Magazine titled “Saving Lives: Israel’s search and rescue teams on frontlines worldwide…”

Please join us in praying for the recovery of the many thousands who were injured and displaced, for the many more who lost loved ones, and for the safety of all those working to provide aid in the wake of this disaster.