Urgent appeal
This is an appeal to anyone who might be able to help. The ZAKA rescue and disaster charity is in dire financial straits and needs our urgent support. Their website is at http://www.zaka.org.il/en/. The site does accept online donations. Please help in whatever way you can.
From today’s Daily Telegraph:
A Jewish charity whose bearded, skullcap-wearing volunteers rush to the scene of every suicide bombing in Israel is facing bankruptcy following the decline in Palestinian terrorism.
Members of Zaka were among the first to arrive at every atrocity, sifting through wreckage to gather the body parts of victim and bomber alike, in accordance with Jewish law…
“The perception is that our workload has gone down, and so we have seen a decline in the growth of our private funding,” said Yehuda Meshi Zahav, the founder and chairman of Zaka…
His group responds to all non-natural deaths in Israel. This does not just include terrorist incidents but murders, suicides and accidents, currently averaging around 35 each week.
Members of the 1,400-strong Zaka volunteer network respond to all incidents to ensure that the body of the deceased is treated with the appropriate dignity as demanded by the Jewish Torah.
With a fleet of 34 ambulances and 150 motorbikes, it costs Zaka £35,000 a month just to cover its costs. Last year’s total budget was £1.1 million although Mr Meshi Zahav declined to reveal the shortfall.
