Supporting the South

Societal reactions from Israeli media (sent to us by the director of our program)...
1) In the last week, 4,500 Israeli families in the center and north of the country have volunteered their homes to fellow citizens from the south. This is a trend that began during the second Lebanon war, in which Israelis signed up in a website, and took strangers into their homes, fed and provided for them for unlimited amounts of time. This allowed people from affected areas who did not have relatives in other parts of the country to get out of the bomb shelters. To date, only 100 families from the south have taken them up on the offer, but the fact that they know that they have a place to go, undoubtedly gives them a feeling of confidence and support.
2) The entire school district of Herzeliyah and its surroundings has opened its doors to students from the south. Since the high-school kids have pending matriculation exams, there is a concern that extended periods of time out of school could affect their scores. Therefore Herzeliyah (as well as other school districts), are planning to invite the students to study with their teachers after school hours, and stay with host families in the area if the situation does not allow them to return to school in the next few days.

3) Channel 1 has been running “school on TV” programming since last week for kids that are in the bomb shelters. This morning programming started with President Shimon Peres, who taught a lesson on citizenship and government. Other leading Israeli figures will be “TV teaching”, and many Israeli rock stars and celebrities have been touring bomb shelters in affected areas and performing for free for the kids there.