Filling the gaps is difference between life and death

A small yishuv in the Shomron in Israel needed two perimeter cameras for security to check for potential infiltrators, to prevent terrorist attacks.

Each camera unit cost $80,000 and with funds raised they were able to get one, but some time passed before they were able to get the second. When the second more advanced camera was installed, the surveillance system detected what appeared to be a religious Jew with a kipa lurking by the fence of the yishuv. Security called the IDF who tracked him down hiding near a nearby Arab village with four other potential infiltrators. The Jewish town, said Steve Orlow, president of One Israel Fund, was Itamar. In the time lag between receiving the first and second cameras, he pointed out, terrorists brutally murdered five members of the Fogel family there. “It’s a terrible tragedy,” he recounted, soberly. “Don’t wait to give; it can make a difference between life and death.”

One Israel Fund has “one overriding goal for 18 years,” said Steve Orlow, president of OIF, “to prevent the creation of terror victims. Most of our donor dollars go to equipment geared to that goal.”

One Israel Fund was founded 18 years ago to assist the 150 towns and 350,000 people in Yehuda (Judea) and Shomron (Samaria) with security as well as “things that make life there more bearable, even attractive,” said Orlow. He noted that the entire spectrum of Judaism is represented on both sides of the equation with those living in these areas ranging from the secular to Haredi, and donors reflecting that diversity as well.

The donations make possible armor-plated vans, bulletproof vests, communication devices, patrol vehicles, thermal perimeter cameras, surveillance and medical equipment, medical stations as well as playgrounds, computers for schools and programs for disabled children.

The organization grew from the impetus of Yechiel Leiter, one of the founding families of Hebron and who served in Israel’s Finance and Education ministries and was a spokesman for Yesha. Leiter saw that there was an overall need for an organization that covered all the yishuvim, explained Orlow.