When the smoke clears from Operation Iron Swords, many questions will be asked regarding the intelligence lapses that led to the surprise attack and the tragic outcome for communities in Israel’s South. Despite these unbearable losses, the rapid response of individuals and social organizations to the crisis and efforts to help the survivors from the vicious attacks, as well as assist soldiers on the way to the front, have inspired the country’s citizenry.
Armed with Google spreadsheets and WhatsApp groups, numerous organizations and individuals throughout the country have been providing food and supplies to the hundreds of thousands of soldiers who have been called up since the war began. Hotlines have been created to provide mental health services for those in need, and babysitting and grocery shopping services have been offered to women with young children whose husbands have been called to the army for reserve duty.
While early accounts from the war have been grim, the spirit of volunteerism and willingness to help that has been displayed by the Israeli public has been remarkable.
In a series of tweets on X (formerly Twitter), American-born Israeli business leader and venture capitalist Michael Eisenberg explained the importance of a civil society that cares and that acts.
“In many countries, civilian society is apathetic. Not in Israel. We are a mobilized and vibrant civic society. If you followed the judicial reform process and protests, you saw it (on both sides) in spades, and now it is on full display at wartime… Those societies with motivated and activist populations, those that value life and are willing to sacrifice for it, will win over the next decades. Those societies with a will to live, to contribute, to build a better future for children and grandchildren will do whatever it takes,” he asserts.
“Israel has those essential components, and we are motivated. With God’s help, a motivated, inspiring population, and an incredibly strong and resilient civil society, we will win and beat back the barbarians at our gates and in some of your streets, and then we will get back to building a better 21st-century society.”
Five different Jerusalem organizations helping Israel in a time of war
In Jerusalem spoke with five individuals representing different organizations in the city that epitomize these efforts to help during the war.
“We began at 11 a.m. on Shabbat morning,” says Adir Schwarz, head of Jerusalem’s Hitorerut movement, which has joined forces with One Heart-Lev Echad, a volunteer organization that helps in times of crisis; Safeguarding Our Shared Home (HaBayit Hameshutaf), the umbrella organization of the Jerusalem protest movement against the judicial reform,; the Student Protest organization; and the Jerusalem Unity (Ichud Yerushalmi) list to provide assistance to those in need during the war. Schwarz and a few others established the Jerusalem Operations Center (Chamal Yerushalmi), which supports residents of the South, Center, Jerusalem area, and other areas throughout the country. In addition, the organization offered Jerusalemites the opportunity to assist by babysitting for children of reservists, helping with updates by telephone, blood donations, providing accommodations for those in need, arranging contributions of food and clothes, and providing transportation services for goods and individuals. Since that fateful Shabbat morning one week ago, the organization has accumulated 5,000 volunteers in Jerusalem on standby, says Schwarz.
“We have had hundreds of requests of all types coming in every day,” he adds.
He says that the first request for help that he received was a call from someone who was trapped underneath a tank in Kibbutz Re’im. He called all the local councils in the area, and the person was successfully extracted.
Another, more prosaic, request came from a woman with four children who needed to purchase Materna baby formula for her infant but was unable to leave her home because her husband had been called into the army. “We are part of a national network of operations centers,” says Schwarz, adding that the Jerusalem command post is the largest in the country.
The fact that Jerusalem municipal elections are scheduled for October 31 was helpful, he says, because the participating organizations had already set up their infrastructure in advance of the election and, consequently, can communicate efficiently with one another.
TURNING TO Jerusalem’s official city channels: Deputy Mayor Fleur Hassan Nahoum, who is in charge of municipal foreign relations, international economic development, and tourism, says the city is working in several areas, such as security, social welfare, and education, in dealing with the current crisis.
“We are bolstering security because the last thing we need is another front in east Jerusalem,” says Nahoum, who reports that the municipality reached out to local Arab leaders who are keeping things calm at their end.
“We have bolstered security, especially in Jerusalem’s seam neighborhoods, and we’ve increased the presence of police and security to keep things calm and make sure people understand that we will not accept any confrontation here.”
She adds that additional security measures are being taken to protect the Arab community as much as the Jewish population of Jerusalem.
“We don’t want the opposite situation, with Jewish revenge attacks of hooliganism. It is for everyone’s protection,” she says. Nahoum says that the city’s experience functioning during the pandemic provided an extra measure of preparedness for the city.
“The infrastructure that we built as a result, and the relationship that we built with the Arab community and different organizations in east Jerusalem has been helpful in this situation as well,” she says.
Nahoum says that in the area of social welfare, the city has set up a hotline staffed by social workers for parents whose loved ones were killed in the war or are being held captive and is also providing assistance to members of vulnerable communities that need help during the conflict. The city is also helping women whose husbands have been called into the reserves, and Jerusalem schools will soon be reverting to classes on Zoom until the security situation is resolved, she adds.
“COVID gave us incredible preparedness,” she says, “and the infrastructure that we built, as well as our relationships that we built with the Arab community and different organizations in eastern Jerusalem, have been helpful in this situation as well.”
Speaking of the city’s residents, Nahoum says that the civil society is strong and has acted to help others during the war.
“We can be proud of all sectors of the city – we have a robust and diverse civil society,” she avers. Nahoum adds that some people in government have a mistaken view of civil society and consider it to be a competitor of the government itself.
“That’s ridiculous!” she exclaims. “I’ve been advocating for many years that government has to learn to work with civil society.”
AMONG THE many soldiers who have been called to the front are lone soldiers. How are they faring during this challenging period?
Lizzie Noach, co-director of the Michael Levin Base in Jerusalem, which supports lone soldiers and lone bnot sherut (girls doing National Service) – young men and women who have made aliyah unaccompanied by their families and joined the IDF or Israel’s National Service program – says that the first thing the organization did when war broke out was to send a message to all lone soldiers and lone bnot sherut that the staff of the base was there for them if they were needed.
“Some of the lone soldiers are in shock,” she says, “because they have just finished basic training and are being called into a war.” For some of the girls, she adds, it is the first time they have experienced sirens and have had to run into shelters immediately. The base has social workers on call that soldiers and Bnot Sherut can speak with if needed.
Noach reports that people reached out to the base and began filling out lists of foods and toiletries that are being delivered to bases in the South. Many lone soldiers returning from outside Israel have been reaching out to them and need to pick up clothing and other items from the base, which maintains an inventory of materials throughout the year.
Feelings of fear are not limited to some lone soldiers, she says. Parents of lone soldiers who are living outside Israel are also going through a difficult period and can speak with the social workers and psychologists who volunteer at the Michael Levin Base.
“We want to be there for them,” says Noach, referring to the lone soldiers and lone bnot sherut. “We want to make sure they are safe and taken care of and have someone to talk to as if they are family.”
Atara Reichel made aliyah from New York in 2004 and has been a member of Kehilat Nitzanim in the Baka neighborhood of Jerusalem since she arrived in Israel.
Reichel, who is heading the congregation’s efforts in coordinating volunteer services during the war, has arranged babysitters for families whose husbands and fathers have been called to the army for reserve duty, helping families with a parent who is in the IDF to dismantle their sukkot, and assisting families with shopping.
All told, over 100 members of the community, including family members, children, and grandchildren, have been called in to serve in the IDF during the conflict.
Recalling the beginning of the war this past Shabbat, she says, “We were sitting in the garden and heard someone walking by, speaking in English, ‘I am heading home now, and my Mom is going to drive me to my pickup point.’ Seeing everyone in their cars heading out is not easy. Unfortunately, it is our reality.”
She has been in touch with members of her synagogue and students at women’s seminaries and yeshivot and reports that she has received an enthusiastic response.
“There has been an overwhelming response of people who want to help. It is heartwarming,” she says.
IN ADDITION to institutions that are expressly designed to help people in need, there are organizations whose expertise is in other areas that have nevertheless seized the moment and are helping others. One such example is the Studio of Her Own women’s art center, the first center of its kind in Israel for encouraging women artists, which acts as a supportive space for unique art created by women.
Since the outbreak of the war last Saturday, the art center has turned into an information and support place for survivors of the attacks in the South who are in need of help.
“We are always involved in projects to help the community,” says Michal Manor, artistic director and curator of the center.
“When everything started, we were frustrated.”
On Sunday morning, Manor wrote to the staff and suggested that they use the center’s garden as a place to assemble items for people in need, since the art center was closed because of the war.
Manor contacted people at Bonot Alternativa (Building an Alternative), the women’s group that, with its red-clad protesters, had become one of the most visible groups at Israel’s pro-democracy protests. Following the attacks on Israel’s South, the group has halted its protest activities and is working to support people in that area. They provided Manor with a list of things that could be done. Studio of Her Own then sent out an email to hundreds of people, asking them to help in organizing support for those in the Negev communities. Manor reports that this past Sunday, the garden of the center was filled with 150 people who had brought items to send. The group sent a truck and 12 cars packed with baby food, baby bottles, pacifiers, diapers, toiletries, mattresses, blankets, and clothes to southern residents who have been evacuated to hotels in the Dead Sea area and other parts of Israel.
She reports that a group of 55 residents from Kibbutz Karmia, located between Ashkelon and Jerusalem, have been evacuated to Kibbutz Nachsholim. The residents had to leave their homes with nothing but the clothes on their backs, she says, and the center is acting to provide them with clothing, shoes, medicine, toys, and other necessary items.
“We have become somewhat of an information and support center,” says Manor. “We are receiving hundreds of phone calls from people offering help.”
The art center is also offering art workshops for those in need. “We are doing whatever we can do,” she says. “Everyone should do something. If you can’t collect things, donate – but just do something.”
Manor says she has been astonished by the outpouring of support she has received since the center began its relief efforts. “It is amazing to see how many people want to help and volunteer. We asked for cars to deliver items, and we have more cars than places to send.”
Soon, the art center will be focusing its activities on supporting and meeting the needs of the soldiers who have been called up.
Commenting on the outpouring of support from Jerusalemites, she adds, “People are pitching in any way they can. We have had such a terrible few days, but this is a reason for optimism.” ❖