AJC Solidarity Mission report

Los Angeles ACCESS members Jordan Toplitzky and Paul Soroudi participated in AJC's Solidarity Mission to Israel thanks to the generous support of an anonymous donor. The AJC leadership delegation toured areas of southern Israel where Hamas rocket fire has made daily life untenable, and met with residents, emergency medical personnel, civilians injured from rocket fire, and local officials.  During the trip, AJC announced $50,000 in humanitarian assistance from AJC's Heilbrunn Humanitarian Fund. The monies will provide motorized carts to help transport the elderly and disabled to emergency shelters during rocket attacks, and other medical equipment for area hospitals.

For more information about the Gaza Crisis visit www.ajc.org/gazacrisisresources

Please find below Paul Soroudi's account of their visit. 

Day 1

Greetings from Jerusalem. After a long 24 hours, I finally made it to Tel Aviv and shortly thereafter to Jerusalem. I started my early morning with a run around the streets and saw the city from a perspective unlike one I had seen in my previous trip which was limited to just the Western Wall. 

After breakfast, I joined Jordan for a walk to the Kotel and a taxi ride to Yad Vashem, which I heard had a new museum. The interesting floor plan presented the Jewish experience in Europe chronologically from anti-Semitism in centuries past, through the Holocaust and culminating in the establishment of The State of Israel. The many images, details, and
artifacts created a very powerful and moving experience.

Our day with AJC started in the afternoon when those of us who had volunteered to donate blood met at the hotel and together drove to the blood bank with David Harris. I, unfortunately, was rejected due to complications.

Our orientation began with intros by Dr Eran Lerman, executive director of the Israel AJC office and Rabbi Ed Rettig, associate director for legislative and educational affairs.  This was followed by a briefing by Professor Emmanuel Sivan of the Hebrew University of Jerusalem on "The Larger Picture-Reactions in the Arab World."

During dinner, we met with the New York Times correspondent in Israel who had issues with his lack of access to Gaza.  Several of us had issues with what we perceive as the biased reporting in the media against Israel without accurate reporting of the true facts, especially
in terms of Hamas and their unconventional, inhumane tactics.

The evening ended with a talk by Einat Wilf who is a Labor Party candidate in the upcoming elections. She spoke about the influence of combating terror on the future of Israeli society.

Overall it has been a very interesting day, although we didn't expect any less from an AJC mission!  We are grateful for this opportunity and looking forward to tomorrow's busy schedule were we go towards the south and witness first hand what Israel has had to endure these past years.

Until tomorrow…

Paul

Day 2

 

This morning we proceeded to the south and first stopped at the communication center in Sha'ar Hanegev, where we met the stategic manager of the Regional Council. The meeting was held in a secure complex which was built with the aid of funds from the AJC. They were very appreciative as it allows staff and volunteers a chance to work without the fear of falling rockets, which has been all too common in that area for years now. We got to hear about the toll these random bombs have taken on the residents including the kids who have not been able to go to school.

We then went to Ashqelon and visited the Barzilai Hospital and got to hear how the doctors and staff have to deal with their work under the constant threat of bombs. We got to walk around the hspital and met a local victim of the bombs, a young IDF soldier who was injured in batttle, and two Palestenians from Gaza who were injured in the fighting. I got to see first hand how the Israelis value life and take care of others in the same way they take care of their own.

We proceeded to their city hall and got a thorough power point presentation on the city of Ashqelon as well as the challenges they are facing because of the constant bombs. Most of the students had not been to class in about 3 weeks as they dont have proper shelters. They are trying to teach via the interet in the meantime but a lot of the kids do not have and cannot afford computers which is posing a serious problem.

Although there had been a temporary cease fire to allow humanitarian aid to go to Gaza, several rockets were still launched into Ashqelon and we stopped to see the damage. There were two kids in the house but luckily they had ran in their shelter in time. We met some young volunteers of a non profit called Lev Echad (one heart) at this site that come to the aid of such victims and provide any type of aid including clean up and emotional support.

We stopped by one of the locations of Magen David Adom and met the director of their int'l department. They thanked AJC for the two ambulances that had been donated and passed out sheets with info of what those 2 special vehicles had been able to do to support the work of MDA. What was interesting is that there is approx a 8:1 ratio of volunteers to paid staff.

We then went to the beautiful AJC offices in Jerusalem and met the former chief of staff of the IDF, General Moshe Ya'lon. He spoke about the challenges of this war versus previous ones and how the new paradigm of conflict is radical Islam against the West rather than just conflict netween the Israelis and the Palestinians. This was followed by a discussion with Major Avital Leibowitz who is the head of the IDF Int'l Media Section and Ambassador Aviv Shir-On, Deputy Director General for Media and Public Affairs. They spoke about what they are doing differently to combat the negative media and give a more unbiased and informative version of events related to the war.

We had a very busy but very informative day and ended it by a nice Morrocan dinner in a cozy restaurant in Jerusalem.

Looking very much forward to tomorrow.

Paul

Day 3

I found today to be very informative and exciting as we met some very high level people in the Israeli government . 

We started the morning with a meeting with Foreign Minister Tzipi Livni.  She gave an overview of the conflict and what led to it and what goals would have to be met to end it.  We were all impressed with her eloquence and frank nature.

After a walk along the beach on the newly remodeled boardwalk and lunch, we went to the very impressive new building of the ministry of defense where we first met with the head of the Political-Military Bureau and then with the head of the IDF Intelligence branch.  We were briefed on the details relating to the current war as well what preparations and requirements were needed to get to this point. From there, we met with the former head of Mossad who was able to  explain the threats to Israel and show how they can be addressed in a very logical method.  I think we all left that meeting in awe realizing how much thought and preparation has gone in what we are seeing in the news today.

The night ended with a very nice dinner where we reflected on what we had seen and experienced. Overall, we were all moved and our experience reinforced our feelings towards Israel and why they had no choice but to pursue the actions against Hamas which we are all witnessing now.

It truly has been an eye opening and important experience which none of us will ever forget.  It reinforces why we must ALL support Israel in such a critical time, no matter what the outside press would like us to believe.

I truly feel privileged to have experienced what I did.

Paul
 

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