From The Desk of the President

Please be praying that the calm will indeed hold here in Israel. As you may know, Israel went through a weekend of intense rocket barrages launched by a radical Islamist terror militia in Gaza. This happened just as Israel was marking Tisha B’Av on Saturday night and Sunday. We are praying for restored calm, and are hopeful that another tragedy has been avoided for the Jewish people.

A fragile ceasefire seems to be holding this Monday morning here in Israel, after the Palestinian Islamic Jihad terror militia fired over 1,000 rockets and mortars since last Friday aimed at civilian areas in southern and central Israel. Tens of thousands of Israelis were forced into bomb shelters over recent days while some 51 Palestinians are reported dead. This includes 24 PIJ militiamen and 27 civilians, with 16 people killed by Palestinian rockets which fell short and landed inside Gaza, according to the IDF.

Palestinian Islamic Jihad is directly funded and commanded by Iran, and the fellow Palestinian terror militia Hamas, which rules the Gaza Strip, allows them to operate on their territory.

The escalation came as Israel was observing Tisha B’Av, a traditional fast day for mourning the destructions of the first and second Temples in Jerusalem and other calamities which befell the Jewish people on this date on the Hebrew calendar.

Please be praying that the calm will indeed hold here in Israel.

Also, please consider a generous donation to help us provide more portable bomb shelters to vulnerable Israeli communities under rocket threat. Over the past decade or so, the ICEJ has donated more than 170 mobile bomb shelters to vulnerable Israeli communities, mostly along the Gaza border, and we are grateful that these shelters were there saving lives once more over recent days.

We plan to visit these areas during the upcoming Feast of Tabernacles in October to express our solidarity and take further steps to improve their security. But we already know they need more shelters. So, we would appreciate your help in supporting our efforts to deliver more life-saving bomb shelters to Israeli towns and villages close to Gaza, to help them weather these times of crisis.

Blessings in Christ!