World Jewish Congress hosts 600 Israeli children suffering under rocket attacks from Gaza Strip

Under the leadership of MK Shai Hermesh, the World Jewish Congress Israel has hosted 600 children from towns in southern Israel, including Sderot, Kiryat Gat and Gan Yavne, at the Biblical Zoo in Jerusalem. The children, who live in a 40-kilometer radius around the Gaza Strip, have been gravely affected by the constant and ongoing rocket attacks from Hamas and other groups in Gaza. They have been unable to attend school, see their friends, or enjoy the normal moments associated with childhood. Their daily routines have been destroyed by the constant need to find a bomb shelter.

The aim of the action - which was organized in cooperation with the Sha'ar HaNegev Regional Council - was to give the children a few hours of relief and allow them to enjoy a visit to the zoo and eat lunch with their friends. They were entertained by the team of the WJC's Jerusalem office and by Israeli rapper Kobi Shimoni, better known as Subliminal, who came to support the children and their families. He took photos with the children, handed out signed CDs and autographs.

Shai Hermesh, chairman of the World Jewish Congress Israel and a resident of Kibbutz Kfar Azza near the Gaza Strip, stated: "These children are the silent victims of the conflict. Some live under daily repressed tension and stress. It is our duty as parents to help them alleviate this stress any way possible, including days outside the range of fire. On behalf of the members of the World Jewish Congress around the world, I am proud to take part in this important initiative and express the solidarity of the world Jewry with the children of Israel - all Jews are responsible for one another."

Click here to visit Subliminal's website

Letter by Member of Knesset Shai Hermesh

Dear World Jewish Congress Family and Jewish Community Leaders,

As I write this letter, a ceasefire has taken effect. Over the past week, IDF soldiers have waged a difficult battle against Hamas and Islamic Jihad terrorists in Gaza. The last few days have seen the peak of the terrorist warfare against Israel, declared by the radical terrorist organizations - the fundamentalist Hamas and Islamic Jihad - the offshoots of Iran's Mahmoud Ahmadinejad.

As a member of Kibbutz Kfar Azza, situated less than a mile away from the heart of Gaza City, we have been under the constant barrage of rockets and mortars falling in our yards and homes over the last 12 years. In addition to the loss of human life, thousands of our children in the town of Sderot and the kibbutzim around the Gaza Strip have found themselves in constant dread and anxiety that have resulted in serious trauma.

You all probably recall the tragic day when the terrorists did not shy away from launching an anti-tank missile onto a yellow school bus that was driving local children back to their homes.

The reality that we live in became truly unbearable and the government of Israel was required to act in a way that would restore quiet to the residents of the area and security to our daily lives. IDF soldiers were sent on a state mission to restore safety to us, the citizens of the southern Israel.

Over the past week we have been asked to remain in safe rooms and bomb shelters, while the heavy fire of Russian-made deadly Katiusha rockets and long-range Grad missiles was raining on large city centers in the South.

This time, however, the Israeli air force, alongside other IDF units, attacked and destroyed them. Their targets were the home bases of terrorists and the terrorists themselves, who have sent their people in to hurt us. This is a difficult struggle and the threat will not go away overnight. It takes an enormous effort and great bravery to restore our and our families' safety.

The pictures you have undoubtedly seen in the news casts in your countries are not pleasant or comfortable to watch, as they reflect a real war.

However, please remember and explain as loudly as you can that IDF soldiers, unlike the terrorists, do their utmost to avoid hitting innocent civilians. The terrorists, on the other hand, do not hesitate to fire missiles from inside schoolyards, mosques, civilian homes, soccer stadiums and even hospitals!

If by chance innocent civilians were hurt in Gaza, then they were the victims of terror that does not shy away from using any means necessary – even at the expense of its own innocent civilians.

We, the people of the southern front, in Sderot and the neighbouring villages along the frontier, stand strong and determined under fire, confident that one day soon quiet will be restored to the Negev region - the land envisioned by David Ben-Gurion.

Please pass this letter along to our many friends in Jewish communities and to your neighbours, so that the free world may know about the struggle of the State of Israel against Islamic terror.

Respectfully yours,

MK Shai Hermesh
Member of WJC Steering and Executive Committees
Chairman, WJC Israel
Member of Kibbutz Kfar Azza