If you or someone who know has an empty property in Israel, perhaps you can help…
The organisers of a grassroots scheme to rehouse Israelis displaced from the south or north of the country urgently need more flats and houses
On 8th October, the day after the Hamas massacre, a small group of Israelis in the northern town of Binyamina got together to think about how they could help their fellow citizens. They knew that thousands in the south had either had their homes destroyed or could not continue to live in them, and so they asked their neighbours to find out who had a spare room in their flat or house that could be put into use.
Within a few days, they had a list of 2,000 people who wanted to help. But the demand for accommodation has far outstripped what they could offer. From last week, they have begun to seek Britons who have holiday flats or second homes in Israel, perhaps in Jerusalem, Caesarea, Netanya or Herzliya, who are prepared to offer them up for displaced families. At the same time, they are also trying to get in touch with Jews in France and the United States.
“People we’ve spoken to so far have contributed it as their way of supporting the war effort,” said Lior Zivan, one of the organisers and whose brother, Yair, is spokesperson for the centrist politician Yair Lapid. “It’s not a financial thing, it’s an emotional thing.”
He continued: “We’ve had 900 families going through our virtual call centre.” That call centre, he quickly adds, in reality is a network of volunteers working from their homes.
The group is looking for people with empty apartments of any size, in any location in Israel, who are willing to let them be used by evacuated families while hostilities are ongoing. While the group cannot be responsible for the maintenance of the accommodation during this period, Zivan, who attended secondary school in the UK and has a degree from Cambridge, says there are insurance companies in Israel who are willing to generate free, short-term policies should this be required.
While some of the people joining the effort to rehouse fellow citizens are not working and so have time, many have paid jobs and are doing it in their spare time. As for Zivan himself, after a career in business he now works with charities to help them generate their own income stream, as well as being head of Yesh Atid – Lapid’s party – in Binyamina.
Zivan hopes that people will come forward and asks them to contact him using this form if they can contribute in this way.
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