With a daily average of dozens of projectile rockets shot at Israel’s norther border communities in the last month alone, and thousands more since October 7, the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (IFCJ) has begun to equip local authorities and security teams with armored vehicles.
The first five armored vehicles were handed over on Wednesday at an event at the Mevo'ot HaHermon Regional Council in northern Israel. They will be put into immediate use in affected northern communities. Four additional vehicles will be delivered in the coming months.
The effort cost an estimated 7.5 million shekels.
2 View gallery
IFCJ has begun distributing armored vehicles to local authorities and security teams in northern Israel
(Photo: Eran Boker, IFCJ)
The vehicles, all specially designed and armored Chevrolet Silverados, will allow senior municipal officials and security personnel to be able to travel through areas and reach the communities they serve even under rocket and other threats. Despite the evacuation of nearly 80,000 residents of these communities, some have chosen to remain behind, either to protect the north or in the case of the elderly and others, because it was too difficult to leave.
In 2023, prior to the outbreak of the war, the IFCJ funded a similar distribution of vehicles to southern border communities, which provided life-saving protection for security teams on October 7, allowing teams to move into place and confront terrorist infiltrators.
Ilan Isaacson, security chief for the Eshkol Regional Council along the Gaza border, says his life was saved on October 7 because of his armored vehicle.
“On that morning I used my armored jeep and, as I was rushing toward the closest army installation, I saw a group of terrorists riding on motorcycles and heard gunshots. Directly in front of me, two pickup trucks shot out, filled with terrorists. When they got closer they started shooting at me but the armor of the jeep was able to repel the bullets and allow me to escape and head back to our communities to provide the critical response. Without the generosity of the IFCJ who gave us the jeep well before the events of that horrific day, I know I wouldn’t be here to tell my story,” he said.
2 View gallery
Armored Chevrolet Silverados will allow municipal officials and security personnel to travel under rocket threat
(Photo: Eran Boker, IRCJ)
Safwan Marich, director of the Safety and Emergency Response Division for IFCJ said the protected vehicles will help raise the level of preparedness in northern Israeli communities. “Despite the civilian evacuation from the north, many key infrastructure projects need to remain in operation. With the addition of these vehicles, we will ensure that the civilian defense officials are able to do their jobs and respond with added safety. Just as these vehicles helped save lives in the south on October 7, this new equipment will allow for a critical increase in the level of preparedness in the north.”
Additional recent projects by the Fellowship, including 500,000 shekels for equipment for Rapid Response Teams in the Northern Druze communities and 5.5 million shekels toward the placement of 123 shelters alongside bus stops serving 42 northern communities, are further working to provide increased safety and protection for Israel’s citizens.
“This war has taught us a very difficult but life-saving lesson of the need to be ready and equipped for all types of eventualities, particularly in ensuring that our heroes on the front lines and in their communities have the equipment they need. Together with our hundreds of thousands of Israel supporters around the world, we will continue to identify new and additional ways we can help provide security and care for the Israeli people," IFCJ President Yael Eckstein said.