After the attack on Oct. 7, the Israeli people remain strong.

Amidst the rubble left by terrorists all over Israel, stories of hope poured back to Indianapolis. In March 2024, Partnership2Gether Western Galilee (P2G) organized a solidarity mission for the 17 US communities within its consortium to allow Jews in the diaspora a chance to experience that hope for themselves.

“This generation is amazing,” said Megan Maurer, incoming US chairperson for the Partnership2Gether Western Galilee Consortium. “I left [Israel] feeling strengthened by the morale that they have and the strength that they have.”

Maurer and a group of 10 delegates from Indianapolis went to Israel on a solidarity mission to bring supplies and hope to a people whose homes have been razed to the ground by not only rockets, but mass terrorism from countries surrounding Israel. Delegates went both to the north of Israel and the border of Gaza, connecting with soldiers and civilians fighting the war on the front lines.

Beth Klapper, another delegate who visited a hard-hit base in Israel, said, “We had the opportunity to bring some supplies to the Israel Defense Forces (IDF) and to a kibbutz that had been really devastatingly hit on the border of Gaza. We took these specialty flashlights that have more of a white light, that work better down in the tunnels, to the IDF. They were just thrilled. They sang to us. They hugged us, they thanked us profusely.”

Maurer, who was in the north of Israel near the Lebanese border, described people who had been forced to flee because rockets had rained down on their homes, and the experience of hearing rockets directly over where she and her colleagues were staying.

“We had a knock on the door at 1:30 in the morning to run to the shelter that there was an incoming rocket, and I sat in a closing meeting to recap the mission to the sound of the Iron Dome intercepting rockets coming in from Lebanon. It’s unfortunately life there,” she reflected. “[People told me] what it was like to be removed from your home with only a suitcase. What it’s like to have no idea when you’re going back home, to have your business be failing because you physically can’t go to work. What it's like to live with the constant shadow of [will there be] war with Hezbollah, in which the projections are that half of Israel would have missiles raining down on it? But the resolve to remain living in Israel and the hope they have that better days are coming, it’s really impactful.”

Klapper also mentioned the steadfastness of the young IDF soldiers on the front lines of the war. “Talking with them there, you know, it's obviously super tough, but you just had a sense of their mission and their love of Israel and love of each other, which also came through.”

Hard days were experienced by the delegates of the P2G mission. Marina Grabovsky, another P2G delegate on the mission, reflected on a dinner she had with an Israeli family in the north.

“We were sitting at dinner Monday night after touring a kibbutz in the north that was evacuated, and the power went off. We heard loud bombs. Luckily, there were candles as centerpieces,” she said. “What happened was that nine rockets were launched from Lebanon, aimed at the kibbutz we toured earlier [that morning]. One [rocket] hit one of the power cables and they lost power. But the people we had dinner with were calm and said it happened often. Their daughter and boyfriend, who are current IDF soldiers, were with us at dinner and decided to go to bed shortly after this happened. This is the norm for people in Israel.”

Klapper described meeting with a 21-year-old Israeli IDF soldier, now head of security for his unit, who had been through multiple terrorist attacks that had killed his commander.

“We went from house to house that had not only just bullet holes and pockmarks everywhere but were where they put burnt-out tires into the homes to smoke people out and kill them,” Klapper said. “He also went into great detail, and this was one of the worst things that I'm left with … that they had the first wave of Hamas terrorists, but the second wave and third wave of people from Gaza were civilians who came in and committed unspeakable atrocities. That was a hard day, and a hard take.”

Klapper added, “But there is just an indomitable spirit that they have and it's a genuine love of the land, too. They want to get through this. And they want to finish Hamas.”

This was something Grabovsky realized, too: Israel’s community is strong and close-knit. “[This mission] made me realize that we need Israel as Jews as much as Israelis need Jews of the diaspora. Though life is hard there, life is different and hard with the increase of antisemitism in the USA, too. [My husband and I] are fortunate to be able to go on this trip and for the strong Jewish community we have built around us, especially for our children.”

In the safe rooms, tunnels, and remains of Israeli buildings, the people are fighting to rebuild. The main goal remains to keep the faith that one day, there will be a safe Israeli state for all Jews, both of Israel and around the world. And Maurer is sure that the people of Israel will prevail.

“It shows [the Jewish people’s] resiliency,” Maurer said. “If we can survive in the land of Israel, we won't just survive; we will thrive.”