Israel
Humanitarian Aid Organization Israel La'ad Comes to Kiryat Shomena Photo:
Leyden Communications
By
Joel Leyden Israel News Agency Kiryat
Shmona ---August 9.....The supermarket in Kiryat Shmona, Israel was empty. No
lines, no loudspeakers announcing sales, no sound of cash machines opening and
closing. Breaking this silence was the wail of air raid sirens as an endless line
of shopping carts filled to the brim with everything from milk and cheese to washing
detergent and shaving cream waited by one cash register. Driving
in large, green and blue pickup trucks, flying Israel flags and dodging falling
Katusha rockets from Lebanon, Israel La'ad a humanitarian emergency relief organization
arrived in Kiryat Shomena yesterday. Led by Rani Levy, a former advisor to the
Prime Minister's Office and several volunteers who come from the Israel business
sector, they risked their lives as they filled several trailers with food, home
essentials, computers, fans and air conditioners and set out for several air raid
shelters throughout the city. "Israel
La'ad is doing what the United Nations and the Red Cross is supposed to be
doing in providing survival essentials to civilians in disaster areas," said
Levy. "We see and hear about the plight and suffering of civilians in Lebanon,
we see tons of aid arriving in that country, relief workers flocking in from all
around the world. But not one UN or Red Cross representative in any of Israel's
northern cities and towns. Is a Lebanese life worth more than a Jewish one?" The
emergency humanitarian aid convoy, left from the Greater Tel Aviv area, but all
essentials were purchased in northern Israel. "Our purpose is two fold,"
said Levy. "To provide emergency humanitarian relief aid essentials as quickly
as possible to those suffering in Kiryat Shmona, Nahariya, Metulla, Carmiel, Neve
Ativ and the many Kibbutzim on the Israel Lebanon border and to purchase all of
these essentials from local shopkeepers and supermarkets in the areas most affected.
We must keep the economy running in the north." The
prime objective of any terror organization, such as the Hezbollah, is to create
fear which would then paralyze economic infrastructure. Haifa, which has been
hit by several Hizbollah rockets, and all factories north have been closed down
costing the Israeli economy millions of dollars per day. But
one or two Katusha rockets that hit Hadera and Nazareth, do more harm psychologically
than in terms of producing real physical damage. For
Kiryat Shomona, the physical damage is very real as over 50 rockets a day have
been hitting the city and the immediate region. Combined with the thuds of Katusha
rockets and IDF artillery it makes for an environment of trauma for the civilians. As
a result Kiryat Shemona yesterday began evacuating residents to cities and towns
southward to central Israel. The evacuation would mark the first time Israel government
has ever evacuated a city during a war. With as many as 9,000 mostly poor people
remaining in the city after four weeks of war, residents have become fed up from
being confined to the underground refuges. "The
shelters are not villas," said municipal council director Danny Kadosh. "They're
good for a few hours - one to two weeks at the most, and it's caused psychological
damage, and we need a week's break to refresh ourselves." The municipality says
the evacuation started yesterday evening, and it could easily last through the
next two weeks. Bureaucracy and a lack of government funding is still creating
many obstacles for a real and speedy evacuation. Already
within the next few days, the town might be emptied of residents, said Mr. Kadosh.
Because these Israel civilian refugees will only be offered subsidies covering
one week's stay outside of the city, the plan is being called a "vacation" rather
than an evacuation. Rachel
Ben-Sheetrit says, "Soon they will have to send us to the madhouse because we
are all losing our minds." Unlike their more fortunate neighbors, Ben-Sheetrit
and her crippled husband survive on welfare and so cannot afford to relocate with
their six children to a hotel elsewhere in the country. With the war dragging
on longer than most had expected, many of those who were initially able to escape
are now returning having run out of funds. But the stuffy, pungent bomb shelters
are more than some can bear, or, as in the case of 23-year-old asthma patient
Eliran Lankri, survive. Tamar Ashtankar said, "We're worse off than refugees.
At least refugees are looked after, nobody cares about us." "Hopefully,
they will enjoy themselves, and relax, and the children will get refreshed,' said
Susan Peretz, municipal spokeswoman. In Israel's most-bombarded city, about 1,000
buildings have been damaged, as have 300 cars. A
race against time. Israel La'ad's Rani Levy coordinates food deliveries under
a rain of lethal Katusha rockets.
The
president of the International Committee of the Red Cross arrived in Israel today,
most likely as a result of recent news reports on AP and Reuters where Israel
civilians have openly asked where is the international relief effort. Jakob Kellenberger
toured shelters and talked with residents in Nahariya who have spent nearly a
month under fire from Hezbollah rockets. Kellenberger, who crossed the Lebanon
- Israel border earlier today, said he was distressed to see that it was “always
civilians on both sides who pay the price” for war. Nahariya has been one of the
hardest-hit areas in Israel in the nearly month-long conflict with Hezbollah terrorists
and an Lebanon government which ignored a UN resolution to disarm them.. Hezbollah
terrorists have fired more than 3,100 missiles into northern Israel since the
fighting started July 12. When the sirens went off, Kellenbeberger’s convoy quickly
pulled to the side of the road and the ICRC president, his aides and journalists
scrambled into a public bomb shelter where two Israeli families already had taken
cover. But for
many the symbolic arrival of an International Red Cross delegation into Israel
today was too little, too late. "As
Jews, as Israelis we have learned that we can only depend upon one another, said
Levy. "We urgently ask our Jewish and Christian friends in the US, Europe
and around the globe to provide immediate financial donations. We, here in Israel,
will make sure that this emergency financial aid will translate into food, clothing
and other basic essentials that will reach our civilians who have been living
under constant terror attacks on our northern border for the past four weeks." Israel
La’ad was founded in 2004 by a small group of Israel businessmen who felt compelled
to address the special needs of underprivileged groups in Israel society. Raanan
Levy, a Zionist activist and a former Advisor to the Prime Minister on World Jewish
and World Christian Affairs, initiated the project and acts as the organization’s
Chairman. Israel La’ad currently operates the "Feed the Hungry", Afternoon Learning
Centers (ALC) and "Ride for Pride" projects in several towns across Israel and
has been able to reach and provide relief to many people in need. Israel La’ad
works hand-in-hand with the social and welfare services offices in the towns it
operates and has received great praise from those it has worked with. These offices
direct Israel La’ad to those who need its help most.
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