Israelis are already launching private drives to help Gaza’s civilians.
As Operation Cast Lead draws to an apparent close, hundreds of Israelis, including those from rocket-battered communities in the Gaza periphery, are mobilizing to help suffering civilians on the opposite side of the border.
What started on Thursday as the private initiative of two young women – Lee Ziv, an activist in peace organizations, and Hadas Balas, a student at Sderot’s Sapir Academic College – has mushroomed into a countrywide drive to help the civilians of Gaza.
“There is no connection to politics,” said Ziv. “We don’t represent a side, we just see an immediate need for blankets for people who have nothing to cover them at night and milk for infants who have nothing to eat.”
This won’t get much play outside the Israeli media, because it doesn’t fit the narrative of the racist, apartheid Israeli monsters.
Since a short radio interview on Sunday morning, Ziv said her phone had been ringing off the hook. “Within two minutes of the interview, I had 40 voice messages. The response has been overwhelming. Schools have called asking how they can help. A father called who had three sons serving in the IDF in Gaza. A woman called who had a mortar fall on her house.”
That’s why Israel deserves the support of the so-called peace movement (which isn’t a peace movement when it supports Hamas). Not that they’ll ever acknowledge the good in Israel. But Israel doesn’t need the acknowledgment. That’s not why Israelis are helping Gazans before the IDF is over the border. They’re doing it because it’s the right thing to do.