Some 300 Keren Kayemet Le’Israel-Jewish National Fund donors from 33 countries converged on Jerusalem on Sunday in a show of solidarity for Israel during the opening ceremony of a five-day mission in which they will review the projects — mostly in the Gaza border region — that have received significant funding from the organization over the past year. They will also meet with local leaders to understand their post-conflict needs and challenges.

“Especially against the backdrop of ongoing security tensions, the arrival of KKL representatives from around the world to witness our efforts to cultivate and develop the land is both impressive and inspiring,” said KKL-JNF Chairwoman Ifat Ovadia-Luski at the opening event. “This evening represents a significant connection between Jewish communities worldwide and the current developments in Israel.”

The primary objective of the conference is to show the delegation what KKL-JNF is doing and to invite them “to join in this very important national mission of rebuilding the south” and of resettling the families of the south in different kibbutzim around the country, Ronnie Vinnikov, the organization’s deputy director general for resource development and external affairs, told eJewishPhilanthropy.

“We are aiming to support reconstruction and restore normalcy to southern communities,” he added.

Vinnikov said that the solidarity mission was the initiative of KKL-JNF leaders who wanted to come to see the situation in Israel for themselves despite the complex situation including the war in the south, escalating hostilities in the north and the resulting travel problems. He noted that some KKL-JNF offices were not able to send participants because of last-minute flight cancellations.

During the first days of the war, KKL-JNF donors raised over NIS 100 million ($26.4 million), with KKL-JNF taking another tens of millions of shekels from its regular budget for assistance programs throughout the country in the time before the government of Israel began to function in those areas, Vinnikov said.

“We were there giving the people first aid when we were evacuating them, buying special ambulances for the regional councils — some of which were used during the hostage deal [in November],” he said. “The biggest project we are doing right now, which will cost us half a billion shekels ($132.1 million), is temporarily relocating 200 families from Kfar Aza, which was ruined, to Kibbutz Ruhama [in southern Israel].”

Now with the destruction being felt in the north from Hezbollah attacks, KKL-JNF is anticipating the next mission of rebuilding the north as well, he said.

KKL-JNF has allocated substantial funds for firefighting efforts, immediate and long-term support for security forces and residents, and the rehabilitation of KKL-JNF forests that have been damaged by terrorist attacks during the war, KKL-JNF said in a press statement released after the conference.

“Oct. 7 changed our reality both in Israel and in the Diaspora,” KKL-JNF acting CEO and CFO Yuval Yennie told eJP. “Both sides understood we must unite and work together in order to respond to the needs mainly of the residents of the Gaza border following Oct. 7 and for the rehabilitation of the residents and the communities and for the return of the residents after the reconstruction [so they can] live in the communities and kibbutzim where they lived before.”

In the initial stages of the war, KKL-JNF provided emergency aid and supplies for the emergency response units of the settlements and kibbutzim, he said and relocated residents to safety in the center of the country.

“We don’t replace the government,” he said. “We take on things the government doesn’t do or won’t do such as preparing land [for construction of temporary housing]… here we joined hands with the KKL-JNF communities abroad in two things, first with advocacy and to increase the donations for Israel in these difficult days.”

KKL-JNF Germany board member Ayala Nagel told eJP that at the moment one of the challenges is to keep the issue of the hostages in Gaza active in the discourse about the continuing war.

“This is the challenge…to explain that this has not changed, and to keep the steady level of understanding that there are still people who have disappeared under the earth and you don’t know what has happened [to them]. There are 101 hostages,” she said.

Israel President Yitzhak Herzog opened the gathering on Sunday night noting that following Oct. 7 “the unique nature” of Israeli citizens “shines strongly through the cracks of crisis.”

“We have seen our people drop everything at first call to protect and defend their brothers and sisters, their communities, and their country,” he said. “We have seen the most beautiful face of our civil society, responding to emergencies with generosity and selflessness. And we have seen Jews and supporters from around the world proclaim with a crystal-clear voice: ‘Hineini! We are here!’. We are here to offer comfort and immediate aid to Israel’s suffering communities. Here to carry Israel in our hearts. And here to help rebuild. This, friends, is the legacy of KKL-JNF, a historic organization that has built upon the goodwill of Jews around the world to make Israel blossom and grow from the very beginning. Today again, we will make that forest – and every other site of destruction – sites of rebuilding, regeneration, and rebirth.”

Nevertheless, he said the country can’t “be truly whole” until all the hostages come home.

The opening event was dedicated to honoring the victims and survivors of the Oct. 7 attack, aiming to “transition from memory to hope and revival,” KKL-JNF said. 

Among the featured stories were those of IDF Cpt. Eden Nimri, who was killed during the first day of the war engaging in a fierce gunfight with terrorists at the Nahal Oz outpost, saving the lives of several soldiers with her team, and IDF Cpt. Oshri Moshe Butzhak who was killed in Dec. 2023 in Gaza leading his troops during a battle with terrorists.