By MAXINE BOYD
The P2G Beit Shemesh, Mateh Yehuda and South Africa partnership met up for their annual steering committee meeting in Israel. Our delegation included staff from both Johannesburg and Cape Town, which included our Director of the SAZF CC, Heather Blumenthal, and P2G steering committee member, Maxine Boyd.
Our trip began at Hostage Square, followed by a visit to the Hostages and Missing Families Forum in Tel Aviv. A heart wrenching set up, in support of all the hostages and their families. We met incredible volunteers and activists from all over the world and were honoured to hear the first-hand experience from the father of hostage Omri Miran, who has been held captive by Hamas for over six months.
Amongst our guided site visits to the Kibbutzim affected on October 7th, we also visited Moshav Netiv Ha’asara. We had the privilege of listening to a young mother, who told us of her family’s survival experience of hiding in a bomb shelter for more than 12 hours without power or supplies.
We also met with displaced families from Kibbutz Nir Am, who are currently living at the Herods Hotel in Tel Aviv. We spent time listening to how they have had to cope with life and survival under difficult circumstances since October 7th.
We then visited the Nova Festival Massacre site. Words cannot even begin to explain how we felt walking through the deathly silence of the Nova site and seeing the faces of hundreds of young adults who were brutally murdered and abducted by Hamas. Over the past few months, families and community members have come together to plant trees, which represents new life, to honour the lives of those lost at the Nova Music Festival.
If you have the opportunity to visit Israel during these times, we would encourage you to volunteer in whichever way possible. Israel needs our support more than ever!
AM YISRAEL CHAI!
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• Published in the May 2024 issue – Click here to start reading.
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