With Israel We Stand
The horrific events of October 7th sparked a wave on unwavering support for Israel, which martialized, among other things, in travel to the sites and locations where the horror took place, in solidarity with the victims and communities. In February 2024, Amiel had the honor to create and deliver a Solidarity Mission to Israel for a group of supporters from the Jewish Federation of Tampa, Florida.
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CREATE
The mission started with Changing Map of Israel, a unique interactive activity presented by Joe Perlov, an educator, community leader, and lecturer. 2,000 years of Jewish history came to life, as participants experienced the geographic and demographic shifts on a map of Israel and the Middle East, constructed together as the events, competing narratives, and contemporary political, social cultural and security issues facing Israel and its neighbors were revealed.
On our second day, we headed to Expo Tel Aviv to the headquarters of Eran Angels a non-profit organization. During the first months of the war, Expo was transformed by activists and thousands of volunteers into a huge hub where different groups joined to organize everything from medical supplies, psychological support, clothing and equipment for displaced families from the Gaza border area. For a few hours, our group joined the volunteers and assisted in sorting supplies.
Later that day, we the visited the Hostages and Missing Family Forum at their headquarters, and the nearby Hostages Square at the piazza in front of the Tel Aviv Museum where we stood with the families and walked through the displayed exhibitions calling to bring back the hostages from Gaza.
On the following day we headed South to the Gaza perimeter. First, we met with Col. (Res.) Grisha Yakubovich, a world-renowned expert on Israeli-Palestinian relations, with more than 35 years of experience working on business, civil, diplomatic, and military issues in the West Bank and the Gaza Strip. Grisha spoke about the challenges Israel faced before October 7th, and his view on what the future holds following the heart wrenching events.
From there, we visited the city of Sderot, located less than a mile from Gaza, and notable for having been a major target of Qassam rocket attacks from the Gaza Strip for the past 20 years. On October 7th, Hamas attacked Sderot, shooting dozens of civilians in the streets and occupying the town’s police station. After the massacre, the city evacuated. We went to various locations damaged by rockets, and visited a Resilience Center which serves as an emotional emergency room, providing individual, family and group therapies to members of the community.
One of the most emotional moments of the day was a visit the Nova Festival site, where more than 300 young Israelis celebrating love and freedom were brutally murdered, and dozens were kidnapped to Gaza. From there we made a stop at Moshav Netiv Ha’asarah, an agricultural settlement in the Gaza perimeter where we met with Hila Fenlon, a local farmer who shared her stories before and after October 7th.
The day ended in Tel Aviv, meeting with Israeli journalist Omri Assenheim, to hear the events from a journalistic point of view, and ask questions.
Day 4 stared early, rolling up our sleeves to join the nation-wide effort to save Israel agriculture sector which was greatly affected by the war after foreign agricultural workers left the country after October 7th, and many of Israeli farmers were drafted. In the months after, volunteers had to step in, working the fields the best they can to save Israel’s produce and minimize long-term damages.
Later, we visited ERAN a non-profit organization that provides lifesaving emotional first aid services, offering initial response on phone and online, which has been working 24/7 since October 7th, and met displaced families staying at Tel Aviv hotels since October 7th, and spoke to them about coping with their new lives. We ended the day meeting Jonathan Alhouri, and learn about the importance of having pro-Israel activism in Israel and all around the world.
The trip ended in Jerusalem, with a visit at the United Hatzalah headquarters, a community-based volunteer emergency medical services organization, committed to providing the fastest first response to medical emergencies across Israel, where we heard the unbelievable stories of first responders who evacuated hundreds during the attacks, as rockets and bullets were directed at them.
At Mt. Herzl, we paid our respects at Israel’s National Memorial Hall for Fallen Soldiers, where the names of the fallen soldiers of the October 7th attacks have recently been added. We closed the day taking a walking tour of the Old City of Jerusalem ending with a visit to the Western Wall, for time to reflect and to pray.
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DELIVER
Delivering a tour with an intense itinerary of such difficult and significant content, we had to make sure we carved out enough time for our group to absorb the stories, process their emotions, find some optimism, and learn what they can do to support Israel and tell the story of October 7th.
To do so, we added to the itinerary local experiences like visiting markets, dinning and ended each day with inspiring content.
