The Daily Signal - Israeli Explains What Life Is Like in Her Country Right Now

Episode Date: May 21, 2021

Yael Eckstein and her family, who live in Israel, have heard rockets explode day and night for nearly two weeks.  Eckstein, who leads the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, lives near Jerusalem with her husband and four children. She says the most recent Hamas-Israel conflict has affected her family, and all of Israel, in a deeply personal way.  “In the past 10 days, we have been living in our bomb shelters," Eckstein says, adding: “Just today alone, for an hour straight, there were just rocket barrages on Israeli cities.”  As president and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, Eckstein oversees a team that is providing humanitarian aid to Israelis. The organization has set up mobile bomb shelters across the country.  Eckstein joins “The Daily Signal Podcast” to explain what life is like in Israel now and what America and the world should know about the conflict with Hamas.  *Please note that the interview with Eckstein was recorded before Israel and Hamas agreed to a cease-fire. We also cover these stories:  The House of Representatives passes a $1.9 billion bill to improve security at the Capitol in the wake of the Jan. 6 riot.  Nearly half of the states reject "enhanced" federal unemployment benefits in an effort to encourage their residents to return to work.  Iowa Gov. Kim Reynolds, a Republican, signs into law a measure preventing school officials from forcing students and staff to wear any type of mask or face covering while in school. Enjoy the show! Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

This is the Daily Signal podcast for Friday, May 21st. I'm Rachel Dahl Judas. And I'm Virginia Allen. Israel and Hamas are still in the midst of a deadly conflict with rockets being fired day and night. Yale, Eckstein, president and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, lives in Israel with her family. She joins the show today to explain what life is like in Israel right now and how her organization is working to meet the immediate needs of the Israeli people. Don't forget, if you're enjoying this podcast, please be sure to leave a review or a five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Now on to our top news. The House of Representatives passed a $1.9 billion capital security bill 213 to $212 that institutes a permanent national guard in response to the unrest on January 6th at the Capitol. In a statement to the Washington Examiner, Representative Zoya Lofgren, a Democrat from California, said,

this bill is a first step toward having more security for the building that lodges the legislative branch of government. Nearly half the states across the U.S. are rejecting federal unemployment benefits in an effort to encourage Americans to return to work. A number of Republican governors have announced that they will stop accepting supplemental federal aid provided by President Joe Biden's American Rescue Plan. The federal aid gives individuals $300 a week, on top of of an average of $387 in state weekly unemployment benefits. Iowa Republican Governor Kim Reynolds said last week that federal pandemic-related unemployment benefit programs

initially provided displaced Iowans with crucial assistance when the pandemic began. But now that our businesses and schools have reopened, these payments are discouraging people from returning to work. Iowa is one of at least 21 GOP-led states to announce plans to to stop accepting federal unemployment benefits.

The rejection of the federal benefits comes after last month's jobs report fell far short of predicted numbers. Many economists predicted the addition of one million jobs in April. Instead, only 266,000 jobs were added. White House press secretary Jen Saki says the administration does not believe

the unemployment benefits are to blame for the high levels of unemployment. Iowa Governor Kim Reynolds has signed a law banning mask mandates in schools, cities, and counties. In a Thursday tweet, Reynolds said, Iowa is putting parents back in control of their child's education and protecting the rights of all Iowans to make their own health care decisions. The Iowa House passed the law 53 to 35, and the Iowa Senate passed at 29 to 17. 20 state attorneys general have asked the Biden administration to withdraw education proposals that they say promote

the New York Times controversial 1619 project and critical race theory. The Department of Education recently proposed plans to give grants to education programs that teach about the effects of systemic inequality. In a letter to Secretary of Education Miguel Cordera, the Coalition of Attorney's General write, the Department should not adopt the proposed rule or, at a minimum, should make clear that grants may not fund projects that are based on critical race theory. including any projects that characterize the United States as irredeemably racist or founded on principles of racism. Indiana Attorney General Todd Rakita is leading the effort against the controversial education programs

with attorneys general from Georgia, Idaho, Ohio, Texas, and 15 other states. Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot slammed what she called the overwhelming whiteness of the Chicago press in defense of her decision to only speak with reporters of color. In a two-page letter to the media, Lightfoot said via Fox News, in looking at the absence of diversity across the City Hall Press Corps and other newsrooms, sadly it does not appear that many of the media institutions in Chicago have caught on and truly have not embraced this moment, Lightfoot wrote. I have instruct since my first day on the campaign trail back in 2018

by the overwhelming whiteness and mailness of Chicago media outlets, editorial boards, the political press corps, and yes, the City of the City of, Hall Press course specifically. Now stay tuned for my conversation with Yale X-Steen as we discuss what life is like in Israel right now. Hi, I'm Virginia Allen. I want to tell you all about an awesome Heritage Foundation resource called the Index of Economic Freedom. The Heritage Foundation Index of Economic Freedom ranks nearly every nation in the world according to its level of economic freedom. Whether for personal, professional use, or for school research, the index is a wealth of information. You can learn why it's easier to start a business in Switzerland than it is in France and where America falls on the ranking.

So go ahead and visit heritage.org slash index to explore the newly released 2021 Index of Economic Freedom, which features interactive maps, country rankings, graphs of data, and much, much more. I am so pleased to be joined by the president and CEO of the International, fellowship of Christians and Jews, Yale Eckstein. Yale, thank you so much for joining us today. Thank you so much for having me. It's an honor to be here with you. You live in Israel.

Would you just tell us a little bit about what life is like on the ground there right now? Well, I think on a regular basis, Israel knows that we're surrounded by billions of Arabs and over 57 countries that want to wipe us into the sea. but there's something about being an island of peace and serenity for Israel's 9 million citizens, including 20% Arabs, that we live in coexistence, we trust our army, we trust in God, and we don't feel day-to-day that tangible threat of being wiped off the map. And the past 10 days, I think that has really changed. In the past 10 days, we have been living in our bomb shelters over half of the country, with over 3,000 rockets being launched into Israeli cities.

Just today alone, for an hour straight, there were just rocket barrages on Israeli cities. The children haven't been going to school. The elderly have been sometimes hiding under their beds because they can't make it to shelters in time. And it's really reminded us how Israel yearns for peace, praise for peace, but has no other choice but to defend ourselves so that we will still be here tomorrow.

So are you all pretty much hearing rocket explosions 24 hours a day right now? Is it mainly at night? We're hearing it 24 hours a day in different cities. The border towns with the Gaza Strip here at 24 hours a day. Places like Tel Aviv, which are big metropolitan cities where there are all the different embassies and a very western, modern city. Here's it, I would maybe once a day, twice a day. Sometimes there'll be big barrages. but definitely the southern Israel cities like Beirshiba, like Steyroth or Ashkelon, Ashdod, anyone who's been to Israel will know these cities as beautiful, coastal enclave with lots of culture and life.

Those cities are now completely just living in their bomb shelter because of consistent rocket attacks. Wow. And you have four kids of your own. What is this like for you and your family? Well, this war is very different than previous. wars. My children are between the ages of five and 15, and when they were younger, we were able to make up all sorts of games and tell them different things so that they wouldn't be so scared. And it's so different now with bigger kids and also that more of Israel is under attack.

Because when they were younger, there were two differences. First of all, we would say, don't worry, it's only on the borders. We're not on the borders. They can't reach us. We're safe. And now they've made it, the terrorists have made them very clear that there's nowhere in Israel that's safe. And the second thing is that they were kind of protected in our bubble of protection when they were younger. And now when my children have Instagram and are watching news, they're exposed to everything. So just today I was having lunch with my daughter. And in the middle of lunch, she looked down and she started saying a prayer. I said, you know, what's going on, Meora?

And she said, Mommy, there's hundreds of rockets being launched right now at Israel. And so you have these code red applications that are going off all day. And at one point, my daughter was so nervous from it, you know, 15-year-old going through their own things and then knowing there are hundreds of rockets being launched at your country, not far from where you are. And I said, you know, why don't you turn off that application on your phone for a little bit? So you don't hear it all day going off. And she looked at me and she said, Mommy, there are people running to their shelters every time it goes off just because I don't have to. It doesn't mean that I shouldn't be praying for them and thinking about them. And so it affects the children in a very deep way, just realized.

how vulnerable we are and what a gift and blessing it is to live in Israel, but also what a challenge it could pose. Yeah, wow. Wow, that's a lot for any child, any 15-year-old to be living through. It's a lot for any person to be living through. Now, I know that you're interacting with so many individuals there on the ground. The fellowship does so much amazing work, so much humanitarian work in Israel. Tell us a little bit about the work of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews. Well, the fellowship, like you said, is a humanitarian organization in Israel. We're actually the largest humanitarian organization in all of Israel.

And so we focus on two different areas here in Israel. One area is security. And so in the past 10 years, thank God we've built thousands of shelters that are being used right now. We've secured hundreds of different departments in hospitals. harm ways. So, for example, in the last war, the NICU unit in Ashkelon in southern Israel, was completely exposed and not sheltered at all next to windows. They were keeping these NICU babies. And so immediately after the previous war, the fellowship went in and built a shelter over the NICU unit. We've provided ambulance, first responders' gears. And so it's amazing to see, firstly,

how all of these items that we've invested in for the safety of the people of Israel, both in Jewish towns, but also in Bedouin towns, in Muslim towns, and Druze towns across Israel, because when you have 20% of the Israeli population being Arabs, we want any citizen of Israel deserves protection and the same rights as everyone else. And so the fellowship is there in every city in need, providing them with protection. So the first part is that it's amazing to see how this life-saving aid that we've invested in over the years is really being put to use now in saving lives. And then the second thing, part is that we have workers on the ground in every city in Israel, in southern Israel, going

house-to-house delivering food to elderly who don't have families who have been living in their bomb shelters for 10 days. We've been bringing activities for special needs children who have been living in bomb shelters for the past 10 days. And whatever we can do to help, both the first responders, the welfare department, and specifically the children and the elderly, we're there without any bureaucracy, without any waiting, literally packing the Trump. of our car and driving down in order to provide some comfort to the people of Israel. Wow, wow. I saw some of the photos online of those bomb shelters about how big are they?

How many individuals or families can fit in one of those shelters that you all have built? Great question. So there are lots of different kinds of shelters, and a lot of people have asked me, L, you were putting down shelters under rocket fire. How did you do that? And so there are some bomb shelters that are connected to people's homes, and that's for their family. And then in every city in Israel, there are public bomb shelters for people who don't have bomb shelters. And that could hold up to 100, 200, 300 people.

And then what the fellowship is focused on is what's called mobile shelters. And so essentially they're made in a factory, and they're kept in the factory until war breaks out. And then once war breaks out and the Ministry of Defense sees the most at-risk locations, which means locations are getting the most bombardment of rockets and don't have shelters, we put these already made shelters on a huge special truck and place them exactly in those locations. So that's how the Fellowship was able to place 20 bomb shelters within the first two days of fighting under rocket fire in exactly the location. that the Ministry of Defense recognized they were needed. Wow, wow. That's so powerful, just meeting obviously such an immediate need so, so quickly. As you all are going out and delivering food, sending up those bomb shelters,

what are you hearing from the individuals on the ground? What are they saying about how they feel right now? It's terrifying. We're just hearing so much trauma, so much PTSD. We're seeing, as we're driving down south even, we're seeing rockets being launched and cars pulling over, mothers on top of their children, their children screaming, the mother's screaming. And even in the bomb shelters, when you're in the bomb shelters, you hear the booms really, really, really loud. And we know that there was a six-year-old boy who was killed while he was in his bomb shelter by a rocket, that the shrapnel still got in. It was so close and so powerful.

And so I think that there's really this feeling of, really this feeling of on one hand, we are protected under God's wings because it's amazing to live in a country where you know that your government has invested everything to protect you. That's why we have so many bomb shelters. You look at the Iron Dome, it's something like of Star Wars that Hamas terrorists launched hundreds of rockets. and the Iron Dome within less than a second flies up and to explode them midair so they don't land on the people. So on one hand, it's really amazing to see how we have a country that stands for life, that invests in protecting life, whose priority is protecting innocent life, both in Israel and also in the Gaza Strip. But it's very terrifying the truth is to see how we're not dealing with another government. We're dealing with another terrorist organization. So it's an Israeli government who's held by Western standards, who holds ourselves by Western standards, and everything regarding protecting life, appreciation for life, protecting civilians.

But we're fighting a war where Hamas terrorists are firing thousands of rockets from on top of masks, from inside schools, from inside residential areas. They're building the rocket, production facilities underneath huge residential areas. that I think what's most terrifying to the people of Israel is how how Hamas terrorists somehow have gotten the world to think Israel is the bad guy as we are protecting ourselves and trying to specifically target the terrorists. Instead of calling out Hamas for using human shields, for building their weapon facility underneath schools and mosques, I mean, it's just, it seems like the world has been blinded

and Israel's been left alone, which is why specifically the Christian support for Israel and millions of Christians who no matter what governments in power, no matter what lies they're told, continue to stand with and pray for the people of Israel. Yeah. So what would you want the American people, or the world for that matter, to know right now, to say this is actually the truth, this is what's going on, this is what we're facing? I think it's important to recognize that Israel is, a beacon of democracy and hope in the Middle East, a country of only nine million citizens

surrounded by 1.5 billion Arabs, 20% of our population are Arab and received the same benefits that my children get. We in no way hate Arabs or have something against Arabs at all. We've made peace deals in the past year with any Arab country that was willing to make peace deals with us. And I think what's really important to realize is the reason every single loss of life is a tragedy. Israel recognizes that not only on our side, but on the Gaza Strip side as well. But you have to put blame where blame is due. Israel left in 2005, the disengagement, took every single Jewish person out of the Gaza Strip, hoping it would be a beautiful enclave that would have tourism and prosperity. Israel invested billions of dollars in building

greenhouses and all different sorts of things so that the Palestinian people in the Gaza Strip would have an economy and they'd be able to live good lives. And what happened as soon as we left? Hamas, the terrorist group, took over, burned down every single greenhouse, every single penny of what Israel invested said, they could have a good life, destroyed it, took their own rivals, the Palestinian Authority, pushed them off buildings, killed every single last one of them,

and that's how we have a terrorist organization now holding the people of Gaza hostage. And so what I would want the people of the world to know is that, that as they say free Gaza, the people of Israel agree completely and have taken lots of action and investment to make that happen. But it's free Gaza from Hamas, from their own leaders that are using human shields and launching war. That's just the opposite of seeking peace and hoping to live in coexistence. Wow.

Well, you know, as you're talking, it's weighty. And it feels a little overwhelming. And, you know, we find ourselves asking, well, what can we do? What are the answers? And I know, you know, for myself as a person of faith, as a Christian, and for those listening who are Jewish or Christian, we know in the scriptures that the Lord commands us to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. How would you encourage others to be praying right now? And how are you praying for your nation? Well, it's a wonderful question. Somebody asked me yesterday, you know, how do you see the end of this conflict? And I said,

the truth is right now, I don't know. I don't see how this could possibly end because, as someone said the other day, our enemies want to kill us and we're not willing to die. And so if neither side is willing to compromise, it's going to go on forever. So unfortunately, there's no end that I could see in sight in the near future. But the encouraging thing about that is that it forces me to turn my heart up to God. And I believe God, could do anything, that God could perform miracles, that there could be peace in an instant in ways we never would have dreamed of. And so I think that right now is the time when all logic fails, when all planning fails, when all thinking ahead seems impossible, it's the time to turn our hearts up to God and to say, you know what you're doing, just bring that peace to Jerusalem. And I believe from the peace in Jerusalem is peace for the entire world. If you can solve this conflict, you can solve any conflict.

And so I would encourage people to really continue to pray, to really continue to learn, not just to read things on social media or to look at pictures because there are so many sad pictures. The question isn't, are people suffering? The question is, how can we stop people from suffering? What's the cause of these people suffering? What's the core of this issue and war? who is fighting for peace and freedom and defending themselves while the other is a terror organization that's trying to just bring harm to civilian lives.

There are answers there, and I think the more that the world gets educated, the more will start to see some real conflict resolution in miraculous ways from the hands of God coming through in Israel. And for those who would be interested in partnering with the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews, How can they learn more? How can they support the work that you're doing? Thank you so much. So the fellowship is very focused on those biblical mandates to feed the hungry, to close the naked, to shelter the poor. That's what we don't do. We don't invest in art or education, which are both wonderful things, of course. But our focus is on those biblical mandates of basic needs now to the most vulnerable, to the elderly and to the orphans. And so this is something that speaks to your heart. You can visit us at IFC.

That's www.org. That's www. www.iscj.org. And there you can learn about all of our programs, what's happening in Israel, and you can follow me also as I update on my day-to-day life, which is always exciting and interesting, at Yale Eckstein on Facebook and Instagram. Wonderful. Yale, thank you so much for our time today.

We really appreciate you coming on the show. Thank you, and for everything you're doing. And that'll do it for today's episode. Thanks for listening to The Daily Signal podcast. You can find the Daily Signal podcast on Google Play, Apple Podcasts, Spotify, and IHeartRadio. Please be sure to leave us a review and have five-star rating on Apple Podcasts and encourage others to subscribe. Thanks again for listening and we'll be back with you all on Monday.

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