The International Fellowship of Christians and Jews

Photo: Mishel Amzaleg Just in time for Rosh Hashanah and the High Holy Days this year, The Fellowship has allocated and distributed support to 150,000 Israelis through food and clothing vouchers. The aid effort began with food boxes for beneficiaries, but in light of a survey showing that two-thirds of families in Israel are cutting back on food expenses ahead of the holidays, The Fellowship prepared and distributed thousands of food and clothing vouchers through staff, volunteers, and partners.

Photo: Anna Galatonova In an interview for The Jerusalem Post’s special Rosh Hashanah magazine, our President and Global CEO, Yael Eckstein, speaks about The Fellowship’s major projects in the last year: The primary focus of IFCJ’s activities is, of course, in Israel, and Eckstein reports that The Fellowship has identified the need to provide increased assistance to hospitals throughout the country.

Photo: Alexander Rozhenyuk The Fellowship continues to respond to the crisis in Ukraine. This effort has even brought staff just kilometers away from the constant drone and missile attacks battering the country. For people living in these areas, there is a special kind of terror in knowing that projectiles are coming but never knowing where they’ll land.

Photo: Dr. Avishai Teicher/Wikimedia Commons Jerusalem’s Arazim Valley is home to the 9/11 Living Memorial, where a ceremony is held every year on the anniversary of the terror attacks. This year’s ceremony took place on Wednesday since September 11 falls on the eve of Rosh Hashanah. JNS reports that U.S. Ambassador to Israel Mike Huckabee spoke at the ceremony, along with families who lost loved ones in the attacks 25 years ago.

Photo: Buksa Digital, Ltd. In the last five years, The Fellowship has donated 363 vehicles to organizations and municipalities across Israel. These range from ambulances and food trucks to motorcycles and bicycles. They’re donated in response to the various crises the Holy Land faces, such as providing elderly transportation vehicles during wartime or supplying medical centers and firefighters with equipment in the aftermath of an attack.

Photo: Daniel Torok/Wikimedia Commons Our President and Global CEO, Yael Eckstein, reflects on the loss of Charlie Kirk one year later in an op-ed with Townhall and what his legacy means for people of faith: A year ago, I received the kind of news that stops you in your tracks. Charlie Kirk had been murdered. I had sat with Charlie just two months earlier. What was supposed to be a short meeting became an hour and a half of conversation. We spoke about Israel. We spoke about faith.

Photo: Michael Giladi/Flash90 Shalom Har-Melech, the husband of Knesset member Limor Son Har-Melech, was killed in a drive-by terror attack in 2003 by Hamas terrorist Farah Hamed. Today, The Jerusalem Post reports that Hamed has been eliminated in an IDF counterterror strike in Gaza. The same series of strikes also took out three hidden weapons facilities.

Photo: Courtesy 2023 Iran claims to have captured a remotely controlled U.S. submarine near the entrance to the Strait of Hormuz. The Jerusalem Post reports that the unmanned vessel is a Dive-LD, a 19-foot submersible used to survey underwater infrastructure and defuse mines. A Pentagon official said the captured drone was likely an older model that had recently malfunctioned.

Photo: Eran Boker Early last month, Fellowship staff in Israel set out across the Holy Land, hand-delivering the first of this year’s Rosh Hashanah aid. As we approach the Jewish New Year at sundown this Friday, the effort is still very much ongoing. Special holiday food boxes filled with essentials, as well as apples, honey, and grape juice, have been making their way directly into the hands of elderly Jews and Holocaust survivors like 94-year-old Maria in the Galilee countryside.

Photo: Alexander Rozhenyuk The Fellowship has been on the ground in Ukraine, distributing food to families and elderly people affected by the ongoing war. Sadly, recent bombings across the country have intensified, with the latest targets including food warehouses. This has resulted in food shortages, with empty supermarket shelves reflecting the growing crisis. Small, remote villages miles from major cities have long had trouble accessing food, but now the cities themselves are facing shortages.