A Desperate Plea from Southern Israel

PROTECT THE PEOPLE OF SOUTHERN ISRAEL

Dear Friends,

As you have undoubtedly heard, Israel has been under attack. For those of us living in Israel, rocket attacks from Gaza are not uncommon—but the scale, severity, and range of targets involved in these latest attacks has truly been unprecedented.

As of last Monday night (May 10), we are in a state of emergency and escalation in the area surrounding Gaza and the south as a whole. The towns of southern Israel, over 30 of them, including the cities of Sderot, Ashkelon, and Ashdod have been suffering for 20 years from rounds of rocket fire and terrorist incidents of intrusion attempts, incendiary balloons, anti-tank fire, and more—but the current round is extreme in its abilities and quantity. Over 3,200* missiles have been fired so far at the southern, coastal, and central regions in Israel.

Innocent civilians’ lives are in danger.

Once a siren is heard, there are only 15-45 seconds (depending on where the target is) to enter a protected area. It is not much time. If people are in a public area—on their way to work, to shop, or take their kids to school—they need a shelter nearby to enter and protect their lives.

We are being urgently asked to help and provide lifesaving equipment designed for these emergencies, to provide public protection; mobile shelters, emergency locking systems, and bomb blast doors.

Gershon Franko, a 56-year-old man lost his life as a direct hit from a rocket shot by the terror group Hamas; he had nowhere to go and there was no public mobile shelter near his place. He was murdered simply because he had nowhere to run and hide.

During the year the public shelters must remain clean so in time of emergencies, they can be used and protect civilians in their cities. That is when the “Gate Keeper” system was also added to the mobile shelters.

The mobile shelter "Gate Keeper" system—is an automatic open and lock system installed in a network of portable bomb shelters that are placed throughout the cities, which unlocks and opens automatically in times of emergency.

Quite literally, it’s a matter of life and death for all peoples of Israel.

Please join us as we are reaching out to the cities in the southern region of Israel with whatever you are able to donate in order to save the lives of innocent people during these horrific rocket attacks.

As a partner in our mission with Vision for Israel, we pray that those of you with the means to do so will listen to the call to give and donate towards this project.

Together, we will weather this storm and come back stronger—in our faith and our love for one another.

Under His Wings,

Barry and Batya

*The numbers of rockets are changing hourly. This is the number as of the writing of this publication.