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18th Israel Maccabiah To Visit Sderot, Witness Results Of Gaza Terrorism
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Joel Leyden Kfar Maccabi - Ramat Gan, Israel ---- July 19, 2009 ...... Organizers of the 18th Jewish Maccabiah Games in Israel have coordinated a solidarity fact finding trip to Sderot, Israel for Maccabiah delegation heads to witness first hand the devastating results of Islamic terror rockets from Gaza which have murdered and wounded innocent Jewish civilians. Sderot has a total population of 19,300. The city has been an ongoing target of Qassam (Kassam) rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip. In March 2008, the mayor of Sderot said the population had declined by 10 -15 percent as families left the city in desperation (aid organizations say the figure is closer to 25%). Many of the families that remain cannot afford to move out or are unable to sell their homes. Sderot, located less than a mile from Gaza, was and remains the target of Islamic terror rocket attacks from Gaza that have been fired by Hamas and Islamic Jihad in an effort to make the lives of Israel civilians unbearable. These terror attacks have murdered 13 residents, wounded hundreds, caused millions of dollars in damage, and disrupted daily life as well as the local economy. Nearly all residents of Sderot, Israel have been traumatized by the frequent sound of air-raid sirens and explosions of incoming missiles. All local schools have been fortified. From mid-June 2007 to mid-February 2008, 771 rockets and 857 mortar bombs were fired at Sderot, Israel and the western Negev, an average of three or four each a day. Studies performed in recent years show that the continued rocket fire and the large number of shock victims have led to post traumatic stress disorder among many of Sderot's residents.
The stress and anxiety caused by years of living under Islamic terrorism have left their mark on the children of Sderot. A study presented at a conference in Jerusalem last week revealed that 45% of the town's children under the age of six suffer from Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder (PTS), which is expressed through developmental regression, sleeping disorders or aggression. Although Israel left Gaza in a unilateral peace move in September 2005, Hamas and Islamic Jihad continued to attack Israel repeating the words of Iran President Mahmoud Ahmadinejad that all of Israel was to be wiped off the map. The Israel Defense Forces responded to the Islamic terror rockets which fell on the Israel cities of Sderot, Ashdod and Ashkelon with IDF Operation Cast Lead. During Operation Cast Lead Hamas continued to use civilian and UN facilities to launch Kassam and Katusha rockets into Israel, turning the Palestinian population of Gaza into "human shields". Sderot Mayor David Bouskila and IDF Major General Doron Almog, former IDF Head of the Southern Command and IDF paratrooper who took part in the historic Entebbe airport hostage rescue mission in 1976, will guide the 18th Maccabiah participants through bombed out parts of Sderot and visit the Aleh Negev-Nahalat Eran Rehabilitation Village for Disabled Children and Young Adults. The World Maccabiah Games are a quadrennial sports, cutlural and educational event that takes place in Israel. The 18th World Maccabiah Games, taking place July 12 – 23, 2009 are the world’s third largest international athletic competition. As the world’s
third largest sports event after the Olympics, the 18th Maccabiah
Games in Israel plays host to 3,000 junior Maccabiah athletes,
aged 15 -18; 5,000 open athletes, 2,000 masters and Paralympics. Sports for which competitors will be going for Gold include: artistic gymnastics, badminton, baseball, basketball, beach volleyball, bridge, cricket, chess, fencing, golf, gymnastics, handball, half-marathon, field hockey, judo, karate, netball, lawn bowls, rowing, rugby, squash, soccer, softball, swimming, table-tennis, taekwondo, tennis, triathlon, track and field, ten-pin bowling, volleyball, water polo, wrestling and windsurfing. The 18th Maccabiah Games is utilizing powerful Web 2.0 new media social networking to connect in real time with millions in Israel and worldwide. There are Twitter news channels: israelmaccabiah and maccabiah and two official Facebook groups. In addition to Maccabiah.com, a new state of the art Web 2.0 Maccabiah Web site has been launched. With very little money, limited resources and a highly dedicated staff, Maccabiah World Union organizers Eyal Tiberger, Amir Peled, Jeanne Futeran, Igal Carmi, Itamar Herman, Rabbi Carlos Tapiero, Avinoam Caspi-Greenfield, Nirit Harel French and Tmira Shafran have provided Israel and the world's Jewish community with an 18th Maccabiah that shall be remembered and cherished for many years to come. Maccabi is
active in Jewish communities throughout the world.
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