Dr. Lizerbram is president of Jewish National Fund-USA. He lives in Rancho Santa Fe.
In recent days, I have helplessly watched thousands of rockets from Gaza pound Israeli communities, including San Diego’s sister city, Sha’ar HaNegev. The United States would never tolerate a terrorist organization shooting rockets at our towns and cities and neither should Israel.
It was Israel’s first female prime minister, Golda Meir, who said: “A leader who doesn’t hesitate before he sends his nation into battle is not fit to be a leader.”
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No quote better encapsulates the attitude Israelis have toward conflict and how we have relentlessly pursued peace. As president of Jewish National Fund-USA (JNF-USA), I share this spirit, and our organization has responded to the current rocket attacks on our homeland by doing what we have always done: continuing to build a brighter and more prosperous future for all of Israel’s residents.
To be sure, these heinous attacks have interrupted the sense of normalcy for many Israelis. I was on a Zoom call with one of JNF-USA’s employees based in Israel that was abruptly interrupted when she had to grab her young children and relocate to a nearby bomb shelter, a shelter that suddenly became the only safe place in her vicinity. For many Israelis, especially in our sister city on the border with Gaza, this is, regrettably, normal.
Our Israeli friends on the border know how to defeat the terrorists in Gaza. They simply stay. Sha’ar HaNegev is their home, and they refuse to be bullied by terrorists into leaving their ancestral homeland. The courage, resilience and resourcefulness of these modern-day pioneers inspires me every day, and I know that even during these scary times, they carry the optimistic spirit of Golda Meir and her predecessors.
JNF-USA has not been immune to the latest attacks. Our tourist information center in the ancient Israeli city of Akko, a bastion of multicultural harmony and a regular stop for San Diegan tourists, was severely damaged by rioters. Additionally, our village for people with disabilities in Israel’s south moved all their residents into the secure rooms and shelters for fear of being attacked.
Yet even in these extraordinary times, San Diegans have continued to stand with JNF-USA as we continue to do everything in our power to support the physical and mental health of Israel’s most vulnerable.
We have mobile emergency teams from our resilience center visiting communities where post-traumatic stress disorder in children has become heartbreakingly common. Our fortified indoor playgrounds are keeping children safe while providing them with a much-needed distraction. Our resilience centers and newly completed animal therapy center are available 24/7 in both safe spaces and in people’s homes. And we continue to support local firefighters with fire trucks, wagons and stations, among many other initiatives.
Read more San Diego opinions on the Israeli-Palestinian conflict:
San Diego philanthropists are also supporting bomb shelter art — which may sound unusual, yet this colorful art helps to make children feel just a little less scared when they have to huddle with their families in their community’s bomb shelter.
As a century-old charity, we do not jump from crisis to crisis without a plan. Rather, we have invested in a billion-dollar vision that takes years, sometimes decades, to fulfill.
To date, we have raised $800 million toward that goal. This proactive approach means that when Israelis are attacked, the areas we support are already prepared. Many of the fire trucks that are saving lives and property in the south were donated years ago. The indoor playground was a multiyear initiative that could not have happened overnight.
In the words of Golda Meir, “Zionism and pessimism are not compatible.” While Israeli may have every reason to feel pessimistic, the one thing that has sustained them and Jewish people around the world is their hope for better days ahead.
I know all Israelis hope for the day when they will no longer have to defend their country from enemies who seek her destruction. The day when they will no longer have to spend nights sleeping with their children in bomb shelters. And the day when her neighbors will embrace the ideals of democratic liberalism that have served Israel well as she has become a successful melting pot of religions, cultures and peoples.
No matter where you stand on the political spectrum, supporting Israel does not come at the expense of others. As San Diegans who have built a city of tolerance and acceptance, we have a moral obligation to stand with our ally, Israel, as she defends her residence — defends Jews, Muslims and Christians — against terrorists who have no interest in the future of peace or prosperity for Israel or anyone else in the region.
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Opinion: San Diego philanthropists are supporting bomb shelter art in Israel, and helping in other ways, too - The San Diego Union-Tribune
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