Israeli youth groups collect food
Although Israel and Syria are officially in a state of war, Israel has provided hundreds of tons of food aid to Syrian refugees in both Jordan and inside Syria. In the winter, Israel sent coats, blankets and sleeping bags, and in recent weeks thousands of Israeli youth collected money for basic foodstuffs including rice, flour and cooking oil.
The aid was sent by Israeli Flying Aid, a non-profit that specializes in sending aid to countries with which Israel does not have diplomatic relations.
“It is rare that Israeli children volunteer to help Syrian children who are seen as their enemies,” Birkat Klimshtein-Levy, a member of the Executive Committee of Israeli Flying Aid told The Media Line. “We make sure there are no labels in Hebrew on anything because that could endanger the Syrians who receive the aid.”
Klimshtein-Levy was speaking at a ceremony with Israeli Prime Minister Binyamin Netanyahu at the Prime Minister’s office, to recognize the organization and the many young volunteers who participated in the current drive.
“There is a dividing line and it passes along the Golan Heights border,” Netanyahu told the dozens of young people in his office, referring to the area that Israel acquired from Syria in 1967 and later annexed. “On one side are murderers who gas civilians, and on the other is an Israeli field hospital where Israeli doctors and nurses, Jewish and non-Jewish, help Syrians.”
In the past week, tensions have increased across the Israel-Syrian border after a 14-year-old Israeli boy was killed by Syrian government troops. The Syrian government said they mistakenly thought the vehicle he was in with his father close to the Israeli border belonged to rebel groups.
Some 800 Syrians have been treated in Israeli hospitals, and then returned to Syria. That has received widespread coverage. But this effort, which involves thousands of Israeli youth, and the donation of millions of dollars of goods has not been publicized.
“My campers sold lemonade and popsicles and then we gave the money to buy food for the Syrian refugees,” Belle Yaacobi, a 16-year-old counselor for the Tzofim youth movement told The Media Line. “We don’t really care where the people are from. We just want to help.”
There were also youth representatives from the Arab sector of Hanoar Halomed Vehaoved, a dovish group that is affiliated with workers groups in Israel.
“We teach humanity and helping the other,” Ihab Abu Leil, a coordinator of the group in a village near Nazareth. “In our movement there is no room for racism. We have to work to lessen racism in Israeli society.”
He said there are 18,000 Arab students who participate in the youth movement, along with about 80,000 Jewish Israelis. His charges raised money to buy clothes, blankets and baby food for Syrian refugees.
Israeli Flying Aid is an all-volunteer organization founded by a group of Israelis who want to help victims of conflict and disaster all over the world. Begun in 2005, it has helped earthquake victims in Indonesia, India and Pakistan, as well as disaster victims from Hurricane Katrina in the US.
The Syrian refugee crisis is a growing humanitarian issue. The UN High Commissioner for Refugees recently said that the crisis is the largest humanitarian crisis since World War II. The total number of refugees and displaced persons is estimated at 9.5 million out of a total of 22.5 million people.
Several Arab countries including Lebanon and Jordan are struggling to cope with the flood of refugees.
“Our moral obligation is to be the voice of the voiceless,” Gal Lousky, the head of Israeli Flying Aid told Netanyahu and the Israeli high school students. “Israel is strong enough to protect our borders, and we will continue to protect the women and children of our enemies.”