Over recent decades, official visitors to Israel felt obliged to make a pilgrimage to Sderot, near Gaza, to view the rusting heaps of Hamas rockets on display behind the town’s police station. Even presidential candidate Barack Obama stood there in 2008, insisting he would never tolerate his daughters living under the constant rocket threat faced by Israelis in the western Negev.
First held in 2012, an annual beauty pageant open to elderly Jewish women in Israel who survived the Holocaust, is sponsored by the charity, Yad Ezer L’Haver, in cooperation with the ICEJ. The contest gives these women a moment to recapture the beauty of their youth, particularly since certain rites of passage were robbed from them as youngsters during World War II.
The Lahav Farm is transforming the lives of war trauma victims through farming and animal therapy, and the International Christian Embassy Jerusalem has been there from the start, helping to pioneer this unique place of refuge and recovery from the conflict.
Due to the constant rocket threat, scores of Israeli families have been evacuated, their homes left abandoned. Yet many residents have courageously remained, holding onto their homesteads and businesses, refusing to become refugees in their own country.
When the first massive barrage of rockets started landing early that “Black Shabbat” morning, Rafi initially thought it was a routine rocket attack. But as he quickly left his community and a house full of holiday guests in Kibbutz Alumim to report for duty, Rafi was surprised by heavily armed terrorists on the surrounding roads.
It is easy to say the word Aliyah but what it encompasses is life-changing for every person who embraces it. Dislocation from their home, to settle into unfamiliar surroundings with a new language, culture, customs and lifestyle.
Your embassy in Jerusalem for over 40 years.
Please enter your details below to register your interest for our Australian Feast of Tabernacles 2024 Tour. We will be in touch when registrations are open.