JERUSALEM — American Jews and evangelical Christians are taking a central role in rebuilding the Carmel region in northern Israel after a deadly fire decimated large swaths of the Carmel forest and left many people homeless.
Several Jewish and evangelical Christian organizations have launched fund-raising drives to assist the region after a massive wildfire in early December killed 43 people in one of Israel’s few green belts. It took a team of international fire fighters to put out the blaze.
The fire highlighted the woeful state of Israel’s fire service, which employs fewer than 1,500 fire fighters in a nation of 7 million people. There is a severe shortage of fire trucks and the under-funded service does not own a single fire-fighting plane.
American Jews and evangelical Christians, who have a long tradition of funding everything from Israeli tree plantings and soup kitchens to ambulances and bomb shelters, will be supplementing Israeli government aid for fire relief. They hope to raise several million dollars. Israel’s Ministry of Tourism and the Jewish National Fund USA announced a joint plan to raise funds from American Jews and U.S. evangelicals. Tourism Minister Stas Misezhnikov instructed his North American representatives to increase marketing and fundraising to fund the planting of trees on Tu Bishvat, a holiday celebrating trees and nature, in late January.
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