A Bedouin clan numbering 250 people – 110 of them children – is left homeless by a savage storm in Israel's Negev region. A nearby Arab town gives the Bedouin temporary shelter in a school closed for winter break. But what to do when winter break is over? This:
…"I contacted the government but did not receive a response," says Rahat Mayor Talal al-Kirnawi. "It was urgent because I needed the school for January 7" after the holiday break, he says.
"So I thought of Rabbi Eckstein... I know he has a big heart."
Rabbi Eckstein heads the "International Fellowship of Christians and Jews", a non-governmental organization founded in the United States in 1983. In this role, he raises funds from the staunchly pro-Israel evangelical Christians in the US "largely to support Israel".
Last year, he raised USD 75 million (58 million euros) from half a million donors, most of them regular contributors of modest means.…
A few hours after talking to Rahat's mayor, Eckstein gave the green light to unblock USD 148,000 to help the al-Amrani clan.
And last Friday, in rain and freezing wind, dozens of volunteers were bustling about outside Rahat, welding metal girders and covering them with metal sheets as they put up 56 solid - though not necessarily the most comfortable - shelters.…
"It's Christian money? So what?" smiles Nasar al-Amrani, pulling off his work gloves. "We need help, they are here. Jews, Christian, Muslims, it's all the same God. What I understand is that the rabbi is doing this so that God sees it and knows it."