In the distance of just a few hundred feet and a few minutes’ walk we saw the difference between death and life. Between evil and good. And the question that came to mind was, What can we do about this?

This morning, together with Federation leaders Lori Klinghoffer and Michael Landau, and my colleagues Amir Shacham and Michal Zur, I visited the fields around Kibbutz Be’eri and our partner Kibbutz Erez. During the past few weeks, the whole area surrounding the Gaza Strip has been bombarded with terror kites, rockets, and balloons carrying explosive charges across the border. These terror weapons land on fields and farms, destroying crops and killing animals. There’s been massive destruction of agriculture and forestry. But more importantly, there’s been a continual state of terror, with dozens of daily attacks. You can see a short video we shot here.

Imagine how would you feel if this was happening to you and your children or grandchildren.

Take a look at the photos below. Balloons and kites — something you’d normally associate with fun and innocence, turned into weapons of war and evil. The tail of the kite is made up of strips of paper cut from a children’s school book. And the balloons are filled with helium supplied by Israel to Gaza hospitals.

From these fields we travelled to our partner Kibbutz Erez, and we discovered our answer as we planted more trees in the Erez-Greater MetroWest Friendship Park. The best response to evil is to do good.

 

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