Perched on the hills of Samaria just west of the Jordan Valley, the small community of Migdalim has persevered in the face of enormous challenge. Relatively isolated, surrounded by Arab towns and quite distant from Israel’s main population centers, Migdalim was founded in 1984 by a hardy group of pioneers focused on securing the People of Israel’s hold on the Biblical Heartland.
One day this past spring, a group of Arabs sought to break the resolute spirit of the pioneers of Migdalim. They advanced to Migdalim’s entrance bent on terrorizing any driver they saw turning into the community. As the first car with an Israeli with an Israeli license plate approached, the Arab attackers lobbed Molotov cocktails toward the car. With God’s grace the driver suffered no physical injuries in the attack. Using a newly paved security road funded by CFOIC Heartland, a convoy of security forces stationed at the far end of Migdalim rushed to the scene and apprehended the terrorists, ensuring that no other vehicles or drivers would be harmed.
Sadly, the people of Migdalim are no strangers to Molotov cocktail attacks or similar acts of terror. In July of 2021, shortly after Israel launched Operation Guardian of the Walls against Hamas and the Islamic Jihad terrorists in Gaza, mobs of Arabs from the adjacent village of Qusra and other nearby villages, marched toward Migdalim’s entrance intent on burning the community to the ground. They set fire to tires, hurled them towards the perimeter fence and the community’s entrance and succeeded in blocking what was then the only entry and exit point in the community. A number of homes were engulfed in smoke from the flames, and trapped residents had no way of escape. Thankfully, security forces responded and succeeded in sparking Migdalim from utter destruction.
After the attack in the summer of 2021, Migdalim’s security team knew they had to build an alternative escape route for the safety and security of the people in Migdalim. Seeking the necessary financial resources to get the job done and with no one else to turn to for help, Migdalim approached CFOIC Heartland and you, our devoted friends of the Biblical Heartland answered the call! Thanks to you, a gravel road starting out at the other end of Migdalim was carved out and subsequently paved, creating a new escape route.
The new pathway bypasses Qusra and connects to the main highway outside of Migdalim, providing security forces with a much quicker route to deploy to the community’s main entrance. Indeed, it was this very road that enabled security forces to arrive so rapidly at the scene of the Molotov cocktail attack that took place near Migdalim’s entrance this past spring.
“The new route has really helped us address many of our critical security needs,” noted Migdalim’s security coordinator Neriya Giat. “I have no doubt whatsoever that this new road will make all the difference in any upcoming security crisis.” The new road has made a big difference for Nerya and his team, as have other security reinforcements, with your support, they reinstalled their main surveillance camera to a location that provides Nerya and his team with a clearer view of Qusra and helps them to more easily identify any suspicious individual or object approaching Migdalim even at 150 meters away! Nerya and his team also knew that Migdalim needed a buffer zone that would make it much harder for any fires kindled outside the community to spread to the homes. Thanks to you the perimeter fence was moved several hundred meters away, making the families of Migdalim much safer.
In the wake of October 7th, as tensions with the surrounding Arab communities have escalated, Nerya is relieved and grateful to CFOIC Heartland that he and his team are much better equipped now to respond to any future attack on Migdalim and its people.
“Our friends at CFOIC Heartland are critical partners with us in saving lives,” Nerya asserted. Moreover, by helping to improve our security, more families have been encouraged to move to Migdalim.” The more families in the area, the stronger our presence in the region, the safer we will all be.”
Neriya is understandably inspired and moved by partnering with friends like you:
“Thanks to our CFOIC Heartland friends from around the world, all of whom have the privilege of taking part in the success story that is the People of Israel, we will continue building and restoring the Biblical Heartland!”