Victims of Terrorism

At the VFI and JST we stand with victims of terror. Some years ago we had casualties from bus and suicide bombings. Today it is the thousands of Israelis suffering from rocket attacks. These too are victims of terror.

Sderot, a beautiful city, is the one that has suffered under the barrage of rocket attacks more than any cities in Israel. The 20,000 residents of Sderot have faced death and destruction for years. Hamas keep pouring rocket fire into the Jewish community killing and injuring hundreds. When Hamas terrorists fire a Qassam rocket, the alarm is sounded in the town, and then fifteen seconds later comes the explosion. The distance between a miss and a direct hit on an Sderot home or a school is short.

Thousands of Qassam rockets have struck the heart of the town. Children have grown up in the shadow of alarms and explosions. Wounds suffered are both physical and psychological. Sderot residents have experienced the reign of terror. In walking in the streets for a few hours, one feels the tension. But over time that tension builds up like steam in a pressure cooker causing psychological disturbances; men, women and children simply breakdown.

Here is what Ron Yisahi, a foreign ministry spokesperson, tells us:

The problem is that someone experiencing the Qassam rocket attacks suffers an ongoing trauma. Whenever you hear a red alert again, it is like a nightmare, like a horror movie played back during those fifteen seconds. Eight years of rocket firing on Sderot has brought death, injury, destruction and trauma. Many of the Qassam rocket casualties over the years were transferred to the Barzilai Hospital in Ashkelon. That hospital serves a population of half a million people from Ashkelon to Sderot.

Twenty-one percent out of these thousand of patients that are received at Barzilai Hospital are becoming chronically ill, which means no school, no work, their life is shattered completely. At the hospital, they now have to deal with rocket attacks on the hospital itself. They have to make sure that they are functioning in sheltered places. VFI and the JSH are on the frontline of helping medical emergency clinics and hospitals such as this one.

At the JST medical depot we store vital equipment and emergency supplies provided by donors from around the world. These special items are supplied to frontline hospitals like Barzilai in Ashkelon and Soroka in Beer-Sheva, helping victims of terror.

It used to be called “shell shock”. Today it is more accurately described as “post traumatic stress”. Many of Sderot residents, including children, suffer from this condition. Those facing post traumatic stress need a helping hand. VFI reaches out to them with material assistance.

Besides providing direct help to victims in the war zone, VFI and the JST provide medical supplies to hospitals and humanitarian aid to organizations like “Hands of Mercy”. Shipment pickups are collected at the JST in the Judean Hills near Jerusalem.

Your support for VFI and the JST touches the lives of victims of terror and supports the medical centres serving the stricken areas of southern Israel. As the prophet Jeremiah said: