Since October 7, 2023, Keren Kayemeth LeIsrael-Jewish National Fund (KKL-JNF) has been tirelessly working to support Israel and its people. Join KKL-JNF in its mission to protect and rebuild.
Rebuild communities in Israel’s South
Kibbutz Kfar Aza was one of the most impacted by October 7. After Hamas either murdered or kidnapped 10% of its 700 residents, the survivors were displaced and have been scattered throughout the country ever since. However, KKL-JNF has been working on giving them a new home, building a neighborhood for 115 families at Kibbutz Ruhama.
What makes this project unusual is not only the scope of the project but its speedy timetable. KKL-JNF decided to shorten the already accelerated building schedule from ten months to four months. Three months ago, bulldozers and earth-moving equipment began to clear 365,000 cubic meters of earth to prepare the area for construction. Families will be moving to Kibbutz Ruhama in the next several weeks.
Protect forests and communities from Hezbollah fires in the North
Hezbollah’s attacks are setting forests, fields, and communities on fire daily. In the past twelve months, over 150,000 dunams (37,000 acres) of land in the Golan Heights and the Galilee have been scorched. KKL-JNF is providing crucial staff, trucks and equipment.
KKL-JNF foresters have been busy maintaining roads and access points throughout the North, trimming trees and bushes to enable firefighters to quickly reach areas that have been set on fire by rockets and drones.
After the war, thousands of dunams of the Galilee will need to be repaired and rehabilitated. Restoring the forest to its original state can take between ten and fifteen years and is a long and arduous process.
Stand with Israeli farmers
Hamas attacks not only claimed lives and destroyed homes but also ravaged fields, poultry farms, and cattle ranches that used to represent the lifeblood of the region. In this time of dire need, KKL-JNF has stepped up to prepare new agricultural land in the Eshkol and Merhavim regions near the border with Gaza.
KKL-JNF is working tirelessly to prepare 9,400 dunams (2,300 acres) of new agricultural land in the Eshkol and Merhavim regions near the border with Gaza. This effort is nothing short of a lifeline for these communities, offering a chance to rebuild, replant, and restore hope.
Support Israeli youth in time of war
KKL-JNF has always placed a specific emphasis on supporting Israel’s children, teenagers, and young adults. Since October 7, KKL-JNF has been working around the clock to help the youth affected by the war, organizing activities for displaced children, offering scholarships to university students, creating alternative frameworks for teenagers who have fallen through the cracks of the educational system.
These efforts have been coordinated across dozens of municipalities, focusing on areas classified by the government as socioeconomically disadvantaged. KKL-JNF has been collaborating with local authorities and organizations that specialize in youth work to develop tailored solutions for each community. This approach enables KKL-JNF to create better opportunities for at-risk youth and empower them to transform their lives.
A unique KKL-JNF scholarship program for college and university students provided a scholarship of NIS 4,000 to 1,670 students from the Gaza Envelope and Sderot. The program began this past April. Given the unusual circumstances, KKL-JNF attached just two conditions for scholarship eligibility– students had to have been living in the Gaza border communities or Sderot until October 7 and be registered to attend college or university at one of the Gaza Envelope institutions, including Michlelet Sapir, Ben Gurion University, Michlelet Hemdat HaDarom, Michlelet Ashkelon, and Michlelet Sami Shamoon. As the war continues to take its toll on Israel’s population, more scholarships are desperately needed.
In these times of crisis, every contribution counts. Join KKL-JNF in this critical mission to protect the land of Israel and its people from the devastating effects of these fires. Click here to donate.
This article was written in cooperation with KKL-JNF.