Getting Them Back to Work Ten years ago the people of Gush Katif were brutally uprooted from their homes. Their homes and greenhouses were destroyed. Businesses were gone and jobs lost. After months of wandering, most of the people settled in temporary housing. But the road to recovery was a long one. For most of […]

August 4, 2015 This is a very difficult time in Israel.  Two children, a 2-year old baby and a 16 year old girl were murdered over the weekend.  The baby was an Arab child and he was killed Thursday night when terrorists burned down his family home, killing the baby and seriously injuring other family […]

July 7, 2012 Terrorism has reared its head again in Judea and Samaria.and in Jerusalem.  We are not yet witnessing a full-scale terrorism war on the scale of what was happening here 10 years ago.  Far from it.  The atmosphere is peaceful and people travel regularly and comfortably throughout the area.  But some of the […]

Tuesday, June 2, 2015 Security is something we often take for granted in Israel.  Ever since the establishment of the modern State of Israel in 1948, Israel has had to defend itself against enemies from both within and without.  Our Arab neighbors have tried time and again to destroy us, launching wars and attacks across […]

Spring 2015 We remember the events of last June all too well. Three teenage boys were kidnapped and murdered by Palestinian terrorists while traveling home from Gush Etzion. These events have caused parents in the region to become fearful for their teenage children. “If it happened once, who’s to say it won’t happen again” says […]

A Sense of Peace For Mechola The people of Mechola are no strangers to terror. The community’s homes are open to the roads where there is a great deal of Palestinian traffic, leaving residents extremely vulnerable. Years ago, CFOIC Heartland helped set up surveillance cameras at key points in the community. Now Mechola has learned […]

January 2015 The news in Israel has been focusing on two main topics in recent weeks: the upcoming elections and ongoing revelations of corruption in government circles.  With regard to the elections, the news is full of intrigue and spin. Great fun to follow but I’m not sure how relevant it all is to the […]

Tuesday, November 4, 2014 On Sunday night, November 2,  I ran a Shabbat dinner in Amarillo, Texas, hosted by a wonderful friend of CFOIC Heartland, Mike Isely and his group Texans for Israel.   I have run programs of this sort in a number of different countries for the past few years, but it never ceases […]

Fall 2014 It was a brutal, punishing summer for most Israeli families. Instead of family vacations, and day trips to Israel’s sandy beaches, the 2014 summer vacation was fraught with frequent trips to the bomb shelter, and characterized by conflict. For the Avitan family, the nightmare was magnified by the fact that they live in […]

This is the holiest time in the Jewish calendar. Just two days ago, we celebrated Yom Kippur, the Day of Atonement, a day which is dedicated to repentance, prayer and fasting. “The Lord spoke to Moses, saying: Mark, the tenth day of this seventh month is the Day of Atonement. It shall be a sacred […]