Operation Lifeshield salutes Pastor Dan Livingston, CUFI Pensacola Director and Senior Pastor of Hearts of Love Ministry for his leadership, vision and passion for Israel. Thank you to everyone involved with this wonderful gift!

This scenario seems so foreign to those of us who live each day with a firm sense of safety, but for citizens of Israel, such security represents a luxury they do not possess. Tamar had moved to Sderot when Israel removed its citizens from Gaza in 2005. She moved her life, only to be met with frequent rocket attacks that threaten every aspect of daily existence. Had Tamar been able to release the seat belt clasp, she would have taken her sons to a shelter that had been strategically placed in a public area, and funded by Operation Lifeshield.

Operation Lifeshield is a nonprofit organization that raises funds to build and deliver above-ground shelters to Israel in order to protect Israeli citizens during frequent terroristic air raids. As the only non-governmental organization active in this endeavor, Operation Lifeshield works in cooperation with the Israeli government and the Israeli Defense Forces. The organization was founded in 2007 by a small group of American and Israeli friends, following the 2006 war in Lebanon. The friends found themselves in Galilee when war broke out and, like thousands of Israelis, had no place to hide when Hezbollah rockets struck Israel.

Operation Lifeshield shelters protect citizens when they are in open areas such as parks, near schools, senior centers, bus stops, and synagogues. Two models are currently available: 30-ton shelters hold up to 15 adults and cost $19,000, while 70-ton models protect as many as 50 people. These cost $38,000 to build. Both models are made of steel-reinforced concrete that can withstand direct hits from Qassam, Katyusha and Grad rockets, and prevent injuries from shrapnel and bomb fragment injuries. Operation Lifeshield has placed 70 shelters in Israel since its founding, all with the help of individuals who desire to demonstrate love for Israel in a very tangible way.

Israel is in a very difficult position because it faces both conventional and nuclear threats. Hamas and Hezbollah are acquiring an even larger arsenal of still more deadly weapons and Iran is clearly taking further steps to acquire nuclear arms. Because of these two facets, further tension is expected to erupt in southern and northern Israel.

Operation Lifeshield has currently focused its efforts on sending shelters to Ashkelon. The people of Ashkelon have become painfully aware of their vulnerability because Hamas has publically stated Ashkelon is their primary target. Next year Operation Lifeshield will continue work in Ashkelon, and also focus on Ashdod, Be’er Sheva and the Western Galilee (north of Haifa). As Hamas and Hezbollah upgrade their rockets, Operation Lifeshield will need to expand its activities to the coastal region around Tel Aviv. Because of improving terrorist technology, the entire country needs coverage.

My involvement with Operation Lifeshield began after God answered my prayer for a sense of purpose and awakened my heart to a calling to protect life. Operation Lifeshield represents a humanitarian project above all else because it is first and foremost about saving lives from the evils of terrorism. It surpasses the confinements, boundaries, and games associated with politics and unites Jews, Christians, and Arabs under one literal shelter. Shelters provided by the generosity of donors are for ALL people . . . because when the air raids begin, no one cares where allegiances lie.

We each have a defining choice we must make: to provide life and safety or to illustrate apathy and detachment. And after all of the deliverance He has granted us, who are we to deny Him a servant’s heart? I challenge you to learn more about Operation Lifeshield by logging onto www.operationlifeshield.org to learn how you can protect lives and offer a peace of mind to Israelis who desire to participate in the daily activities we often take for granted.

By Sarah Davasher, Louisville Director, Operation Lifeshield

The rockets being fired into Israel by the Hamas regime in Gaza and Hezbollah in Lebanon are getting more and more accurate.

When the siren sounds, those in Israeli cities under attack may have a minute, or maybe only 15 seconds, to get to a shelter before an incoming rocket launched by one of the militant Muslim groups causes mass destruction.

“That is not a lot of time,” Rabbi Shmuel Bowman said. “If you don’t run, you will be killed. We’re in a dangerous situation.”

Bowman is the Israel director of Operation Lifeshield, a nonprofit organization founded in 2007 by Shep Alster and Josh Adler to provide shelters for the citizens of the Jewish state who are under attack.

Bowman was in Bowling Green this week promoting the organization and thanking people in the area for their help in building such a shelter.

People from both the Christian and Jewish communities in Bowling Green raised money for a shelter that was put in Tzfat, a city in Northern Israel 15 miles from the Lebanese boarder.

That shelter was installed in October 2009.

More than half of the shelters donated to Israel have come from the Christian community in the United States, including Bowling Green, said Bart Britt, a member of Hillvue Heights Church and the southeast director of Operation Lifeshield and the Kentucky director of Israel Always.

There are two types of shelters manufactured, one fitting 30 people and another fitting 50 people. The smaller shelter costs $19,000; the larger shelter is $35,000. The organization also is seeking funding for first aid and communication equipment.

Britt said they are putting together plans for raising money for more shelters, with Bowling Green, Nashville and Louisville as prime fundraising areas.

“We are trying to reach out and let the people in Israel know we are concerned about what is happening in Israel,” Britt said. “And we’re letting the churches here know there is someone in Bowling Green they can contact.”

Operation Lifeshield has been networking within churches across the nation, hosting rallies to raise money to pay for the above-ground shelters. Bowman, with the help of the Israeli Defense Forces, oversees where the shelters need to go.

The organization is seeking funding to put 10 additional shelters in Ashkelon – a city in southern Israel seven miles from the Gaza Strip, and one of the areas with the most need for shelters.

Since 2005, more than 10,000 Hamas rockets and heavy mortars have been launched against the cities of Ashkelon and Sderot – another city in southern Israel.

When Hamas started shooting rockets at Israeli cities, the rockets were home-made from tubular poles of road signs, Bowman said. He said now more advanced weaponry is being smuggled in through underground tunnels.

“It’s like having an underground highway,” he said.

More advanced Korean-made rockets were introduced into the Hamas arsenal last year, Bowman said. The rockets have a range of 12.6 miles.

The concentration of firing has been on schools, synagogues and markets, which are places heavy populated during the day, Britt said. The bombs deployed are packed with shrapnel, glass and nails soaked in rat poison, he said.

“So when they explode, these projectiles are traveling at 200 miles an hour … so they can cause total destruction and death,” he said.

Earl Cox, president of Israel Always and a spokesman for Operation Lifeshield, said rockets are coming in routinely, and that the people of Israel live in trauma constantly. Cox travels to Israel frequently.

“And as I go there, I have to run, and when you are in a situation like that, you begin to feel like these people feel,” he said.

Britt said supporting Israel has been an interfaith movement. Bowman agreed, saying the Christian and Jewish communities have come together in response to the attacks. Ten years ago, Cox said when he went to Israel, the relationship between the Jewish and Christian communities was not good. He says that is changing.

“Terrorism has welded a relationship that has never been there before, in like mind and solidarity,” Cox said. “We have to stand together. As Americans, it’s in our best interest to stand with Israel and as Christians, it is a our biblical duty to do the same.”

In Ashkelon, the local government does not have the money to build shelters to protect its citizens.

“This is more than just a spiritual or Christian mission, it is a global issue,” Cox said. “People don’t hear … and I think once aware, they are moved to act.”

Bowman said having the shelters decreases anxieties among the citizens. To date, more than 50 shelters have been placed in Sderot, six in Ashkelon, three in the areas surrounding Ashkelon and about eight in the northern region of Israel.

“We believe through action, we can save lives,” Bowman said. “If there is not a shelter, I cannot guarantee what will happen. But, I can guarantee if there is a shelter, a life will be saved.”

By NATALIE JORDAN, The Daily News, njordan@bgdailynews.com/

Ehud Barak predicted that once the barriers are in place, they will significantly reduce Middle East hostilities.

Last week, Israel announced it had successfully completed testing the Iron Dome system, designed to protect civilians from short-range rockets fired by Hamas militants in Gaza and Hezbollah guerrillas in Lebanon. The military did not say at the time when the system would become operational, though Channel 10 TV said a first battery would be deployed in May.

The military on Monday released three brief videoclips of last week’s test, each showing streaking rockets disappearing inside a white circular flash. In one video, a rocket is seen disintegrating into a shower of tiny fragments. Each video appears to show a tiny, stationary circular object waiting in the path of the incoming projectile shortly before the explosion.

Despite the technological success, Barak said it would take years before the system is fully operational.

“We can’t sow the illusion that now that development has been successfully completed, tomorrow morning there already will be complete protection for the Gaza area or the north,” Barak said. “It will take years before we are equipped.”

Israel has had no system in place to guard against thousands of rockets that militants rained down on its southern and northern borders over the years. Millions of Israeli civilians are within rocket range, and the military stepped up its quest for a solution after the country’s 2006 war against Hezbollah, when 4,000 rockets bombarded northern Israel.

Iron Dome, developed at a cost of more than $200 million, uses cameras and radar to track incoming rockets and shoot them down within seconds of their launch, the Defense Ministry said. It is to be integrated into a multilayered defense umbrella designed to neutralize all missile threats — including long-range ballistic missiles from Iran that might be configured to carry nuclear warheads.

Barak predicted Iron Dome would pare military operations against Hamas and Hezbollah in the future.

“It will save time of fighting and deter in many cases a potential enemy from really launching an attack,” he said in English.

He also deflected concerns about the high cost of employing the system: It has been estimated that it would cost many thousands of dollars to shoot down a single rocket, which in Hamas’ case, could cost only several hundred dollars to manufacture.

“The whole picture from my point of view is how much it costs us to run the war one day more or probably not just even opening it,” he said. “The cost of one day of warfare against the Hamas and Hezbollah, for example, will cover 10,000 interceptors.”

There has been a recent flare-up of rocket fire from Gaza, and Barak said that reflected the failure of Gaza’s Hamas rulers “to impose their will” on dissident militant groups.

“Hamas is well-deterred from trying another direct collision with Israel,” he said, warning it to prevent fire on Israel “and not dissolve into crocodile tears if we’re forced to take action.”

By AMY TEIBEL, Associated Press Writer

The IAF targets included factories used in the production of arms near Khan Younis and two tunnels used for weapons smuggling. The tunnels were located in the south of the Gaza region, connecting the Hamas regime in the Palestinian Authority with the Egyptian Sinai Peninsula. Hamas-controlled tunnels in Gaza are regularly used for smuggling weapons, rockets, arms components and the terrorists themselves, as well as merchandise and contraband.

The precision strikes were successful, according to IDF spokespersons, and the aircraft returned to their bases unharmed.

Hamas sources admitted that two tunnels were hit, but claimed that the IAF had bombed a military training facility, not a factory. According to Hamas, three people were wounded in the Israeli air strike.

An IDF spokesperson said, “The attack comes in response to rocket fire directed yesterday morning at Israel. The IDF will respond forcefully to any attempt to disrupt the calm situation in the south of the country.”

Wednesday’s rocket attack by PA terrorists targeted the western Negev. The rocket, most likely a shortrange Kassam, landed in an open field between two towns in the Sha’ar HaNegev region. There were no reports of injuries or damage.

In the past month alone, PA terrorists have launched approximately 15 rockets at Jewish communities, primarily in the western Negev.

by Nissan Ratzlav-Katz

One of these projects is a unique theater program, which was founded in order to provide Sderot teenage girls with a coping mechanism for dealing with the stress and trauma that has become a constant in their lives. Bedein says, “This theater project provides teenage girls with self-expressing media tools to express their human story of trauma through the arts of theater, acting out their story through a live diverse kind of audience.”

The theatre program has already produced a play, called Children of Kassam Avenue. It incorporates both the serious and comical aspects of Sderot life and features a hilariously entertaining Moroccan grandmother and the warning sirens of Kassam rockets, making it both sad and funny for audiences.

The first performance was in Sderot. Bedein said, “We basically invited professionals from the educational and psychological fields and heard from them how this was a successful process, seeing how the girls were able to express themselves and stand in front of an audience and just tell their story.”

Since then, the staff members of Sderot Media Center have been trying to publicize the play and find funds to bring it to the public. Aside from the performance in Sderot, the play was staged in Jerusalem, where only key people, including representatives from women’s organizations and community centers, were invited to view the production. Until the theater program can gain enough support and proper funding, the general public will not be able to see the play, but Bedein expresses high hopes for the future of the program. The Sderot Media Center has developed a six-month plan to tour all over Israel, and even to reach out to the Knesset, and eventually translate the play into English and perform it in the United States and England.

After their performances in both Sderot and Jerusalem, the positive therapeutic effects have been evident, Bedein said. “The girls loved the performance itself…. They had the opportunity to be presenting their story, their routine lives.” The project will allow the general public to understand what the girls have gone through because of the Kassam rockets. He added, “Even more exciting is hearing their principals and their teachers saying they cannot believe that just a year ago these girls were so in their own little environments and not really associated with society or really speaking out, and here they are speaking in front of a live audience and really expressing themselves.

Among the audience members at the performance in Jerusalem, the feedback was also extremely encouraging. “We invited the director of the Government Press Office, Danny Sieman, and he actually loved the show, which he thought was important to take to the Knesset,” said Bedein. “We did get good feedback, so our challenge now is taking this on the road around the country.”

One of the theater project’s aims is to help publicize the human side of the Sderot story to people all around the world. Bedein emphasized that telling this story is an important tool in undermining the legitimacy that has been given to terror. He hopes that when audiences see the play, they will better understand that Sderot is the only place in western civilization under constant threat from rocket attacks, and become more aware of the trauma and suffering that has become a regular component of Sderot life.

Bedein added, “We desperately need people to take part of this as a non-profit, private organization. We are literally surviving financially just to keep our doors open. And for this theater production to keep on going, we definitely need the help of anyone that understands the importance of speaking up and sharing the story.

by Sarah Bierman and Gina Hotz (Israelnationalnews.com)

By all accounts, in the event of a future round of hostilities in the region, it will be the home front that will be the target of choice for Hizbullah, Hamas and Iran.

In southern Lebanon, rocket caches hidden in Shi’ite villages have, on occasion, exploded accidentally over the past few months, providing a glimpse into Hizbullah’s massive rearmament efforts, which are focused on the acquisition of long-range projectiles capable of striking deep into Israel.

The interception of an Iranian arms ship last week carrying almost 3,000 rockets destined for Hizbullah, and recent intelligence reports on the test-firing of a rocket by Hamas in Gaza able to strike Tel Aviv, offer more evidence that these two terrorist armies are quietly stocking up on weapons designed to severely disrupt civilian population centers.

Israel is watching on the sidelines as Iran stonewalls diplomatic efforts to rein in its nuclear program, but has hinted that it will not wait forever. Iran possesses a long-range ballistic missile program that, too, could be turned against the Israeli home front.

In light of these threats, it seems natural to ask: How prepared is the home front for war?

Clearly, the answer to this question cannot begin in 2009, but rather in 2006 during the Second Lebanon War, when the country found itself wholly unprepared for large-scale rocket fire on the North.

Masses of disgruntled northerners, fed up with sleeping in poorly equipped bomb shelters, fled southward, after local services ground to a halt and the Home Front Command was slow to respond to events on the ground.

“We have learned many lessons since the Second Lebanon War,” said Col. Chilik Soffer, head of population at the Home Front Command, during an interview last week.

Indeed, the Home Front Command has emerged from the shambles of 2006 and busied itself with studying what went wrong. It has instituted a complete reform of its working practices. “Many big changes have been under way,” Soffer said.

Instructions for civilians to remain in bomb shelters for days on end were consigned to the dustbin. Instead, civilians have been instructed to take advantage of peacetime to locate “safe zones” – rooms, stairwells or bomb shelters – in which they will be least exposed to rocket attacks. Members of the public need only remain in the safe zones for the duration of a rocket attack.

“Our figures show that during both the Second Lebanon War, in which 41 civilians were killed, and Operation Cast Least, in which three civilians lost their lives to rockets, 90 percent of deaths occurred in open areas,” Soffer said. “Those who enter designated safe zones during rocket attacks are very likely to emerge without any injury.”

Communication channels with the general public have been radically improved, with information being made available through mailed leaflets, TV and radio ad campaigns, and the Home Front Command’s Internet site.

“The bottom line is that there has been a very positive revolution since the Second Lebanon War,” said Gidi Grinstein, founder and director of the Reut Institute, a strategic planning body. “In my 20 years in the field, it’s the most positive sign I’ve seen.”

Soffer said there could be no better example of the improvements made than the public’s appraisal of the Home Front Command during Operation Cast Lead, two and a half years after the Second Lebanon War.

During a poll taken by the Home Front Command on January 19, one day after the fighting ended, 95 percent of residents in the south said they had full confidence in the Home Front Command’s abilities.

BUT ACCORDING to a report published by Reut and the Israel Trauma Coalition in September, the picture isn’t all rosy.

Sections of the home front could face collapse in the next war or natural disaster unless a network of civilian sectors is created and trained to deal with emergencies, the report said.

“Despite all that was done since 2007, the enormous investment of funds, personnel, exercise and budgets, and despite what we saw during Operation Cast Lead, Israel remains exposed to the danger of home front collapse in certain areas,” Grinstein said.

“A home front collapse could be characterized by public disorder, looting, and a total loss of trust by the public due to a dramatic gap between the state’s resources, on the one hand, and expectations by the public on the other.”

But Soffer dismissed concerns of social collapse during wartime. “All research done on the subject shows that the looting threat is a myth. In fact, most citizens are adaptive, and become more adaptive during wars and disasters. Levels of anti-social behavior and crime fall during wars.”

The Reut Institute has stressed that current efforts at readiness have been very good, but remain incomplete.

“The problem is that the home front has had no place in the dominant security concept in Israel. We believe it must be integrated into security thinking, as a central component,” Grinstein said.

“The home front does have an important place in security thinking,” countered Soffer. “Organizing the civilian sector is seen as critical. We’ve been dealing with threats to civilians since 1948, when Egyptian planes bombed Tel Aviv. This is not a new threat.”

Still, Grinstein says he is concerned by the prospect of an unprecedented assault on civilians in a future war, which could be far more widespread than the limited northern or southern zones that past conflicts have been limited to.

“There are huge resources that are not being recruited, this is where the report is focused,” he said. “One chemical weapon could lead to thousands of casualties.”

He praised a Home Front Command plan to use gyms across the country as alternatives to hospitals for the treatment of victims in the event of a chemical missile attack.

As part of a civilian national emergency network, the Reut Institute’s report recommends that charities which provide vital services like food deliveries be identified and provided with means to continue working in a national emergency situation.

“We do agree with Reut’s report on this point. There is a need to employ charities which provide essential services to create a support network,” Soffer said. “We have been doing that. The emphasis has been on getting civilians to provide help to one another in their areas. It’s logical to create priorities of people whom you can help.

“We plan to take all high school students and train them to be volunteers, to expand the support network by 300,000 people.”

Reut is concerned by the prospect of a breakdown in private sector services, like the delivery of cash to ATMs or food to supermarkets. But Soffer said such a breakdown would not take place, since “the government is responsible for assisting civilians if that happens.”

Grinstein said that the Home Front Command was not fully integrating civilians into its preperations, adding, “the Home Front Command is a hierarchical organization. Citizens must be spoken to and recruited in the right way.”

He pointed to the low level of participation in June’s Turning Point civil defense drill, in which the Home Front Command asked members of the public to respond to mock air raid sirens by evacuating to safe zones.

But Soffer said polls taken of the general population showed that the majority did partake in the exercise. The polls did reflect regional differences, however, with northern and southern residents taking part in the exercise in larger numbers than those who reside in the center.

Ultimately, Soffer said, it was important to remember to keep things in perspective. He stressed that anti-missile defense programs “which provide answers” are being developed and deployed, and that the Israeli public was accustomed to enduring national emergencies.

Five bomb shelters were donated today (Tuesday June 26, 2009) in Ashkelon to the schools Asaf Maimon and the School of the Arts. The schools had no shelters to protect the students from deadly rocket attacks from Gaza. During Operation Cast Lead in January, over one hundred rockets were fired at Ashkelon. The shelters, each weighing 69 tons and with room for 50 students, were purchased by Operation Lifeshield, a US-based non-profit organization which receives donations in order to save lives, and give the people of Ashkelon shelter. The donors are Christians who love Israel. A ceremony was held today in honor of Pastor Scott Thomas (head of “Without Walls Central”) from Florida, Rabbi Shmuel Bowman (Operation Lifeshield Israel Director) and Mr. Shep Alster (Founder of Operation Lifeshield). Pastor Tony Baker (head of Faith Assembly congregation in Pennsylvania) donated one of the shelters, but was unable to attend.

The mayor of the city, Beni Vaknin hosted the donors at a reception at City Hall, and told them about the lack in shelters in his city of 122,000 people.

The mayor said that “Ashkelon is the most southern Israeli city on the shore of the Mediterranean Sea, and on the south we border with Gaza. In a different situation, both cities could have developed side by side, but sadly, in reality things are different.”

Shmuel Bowman said at the end of the visit that he was very pleased to see how the Municipality of Ashkelon and Ackerstein Industries (the company that built the bomb shelters), worked together quickly in order to protect the schoolchildren, and save their lives. “I believe that we will continue working together“, remarked Bowman, “because the donors love the People of Israel, and want to help and protect the children.“

Mayor Beni Vaknin thanked the donors, Pastor Scott Thomas and Mr. Shep Alster (representing Pastor Tony Baker) saying, “Your donation will support Ashkelon, and help us face the threat of the missiles. I thank you for your support in Ashkelon and in Israel. It’s good to know that we have such great loving friends in the world.“

(Translation provided by Yoav Netanel Bowman)