Israel Immediately Sends Help to the New State of Sudan

As South Sudan’s Independence Day on July 9th was declared, the international community watched the birth of its newest nation. The situation in the country is harsh. Illiteracy reaches nearly 90%, there is little or no infrastructure in the country, and most of the people have no access to basic clean water and security. In recent months over 117,000 people were displaced and almost 1,400 killed following the conflict between the South and the North and across Sudan 4.27 million people are still internally displaced.

IsraAID: The Israel Forum for International Humanitarian Aid with the support and partnership of The Jewish Federation of Greater Toronto, AJC and local agencies on the ground will be sending a humanitarian aid cargo to assist the people of South Sudan on behalf of the Israeli and Jewish people as a goodwill gesture between both communities.

The IsraAID teams have already begun assessing the longer term needs on the ground for a long term aid mission that would benift children, women and elders in the most affected communities in the country.

“As a small and relatively new born country Israel has gained experience in various factors of water, agriculture, post trauma, education, migration and others that would be valuable to the people of South Sudan who are now building their country. It is our mission and Jewish commitment to reach out to our new friends in any way we can” stated the founding director of IsraAID.

A Wounded Soldiers Holiday

From one of Israel's wounded soldiers comes an interesting letter enjoying himself on his annual government sponsored holiday.

I believe this is worth publishing

Hi guys.

As a wounded ex paratrooper the government gives me a week every year in a 5 star spa hotel.

This year we are in one of the weirdest places a extremely small settlement [Ein Bokek, http://www.einbokek.com/ ] in the middle of nowhere on the shores of the Dead Sea. Maybe 2500 inhabitants and 10, 5 star spa hotels.

Half the visitors here are veterans all with bits and pieces missing. But who are these veterans? Well most people who haven't been to Israel will presume that they are all Jews. Wrong!! There are Jews, Arab Christian and Moslems who volunteer to serve, Druze who all serve, Bedouin {many Bedouin volunteer and reach high ranking officer status] and a people called Cherkaizim who are Moslems and came from the Caucasian mountains brought by the Turks as mercenaries a few hundred years ago and now live in 2 villages in the Galilee and all serve in the army.

So that’s the veterans, the other half are Christian Russians who come here for the Dead Sea treatments and the endless amounts of free food and alcohol included in the price.

There are icons of various Saints and symbols of Christianity in all the shops and we are told by the shopkeepers that without the Russians they would close down. All very weird.

The staff at the hotels is also a very strange combination. Half are local Israelis,
types that love living in the desert in small towns and villages, local Bedouin and strangest of all tall jet black Moslem Sudanese political refugees.

These poor souls brave travelling through Egypt [where they risk being shot on sight] and stealthily cross the border into Israel where they receive asylum as political refugees. So this is what’s going on in the lowest spot on he planet. I thought this might interest the uninformed.