Steve Conover: We are so glad you could join us for another episode of The Friends of Israel Today. I'm Steve Conover, executive director of the Friends of Israel. With me as always is our host and teacher, Chris Katulka.

Chris Katulka: Hey, Steve. I just returned from Israel last month and while we were over there we actually stayed in a hotel right on the Sea of Galilee that actually serves two groups right now. Groups that are coming in for international travel to see the Holy Land, to see the land of Israel, but also half the hotel is being used right now by displaced Israelis that live on the northern border of Lebanon. And so we had an opportunity to sit down and to talk with some of the displaced Israelis to hear their heart. And then also with the marketing director of the hotel that we stayed at so that we could hear how this hotel prepared itself for the refugees that would be coming down as a result of Hezbollah's attacks.

Steve Conover: These are important stories for you to hear. We'll get to that. But first in the news, Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu warned cadets graduating from a military officer's course that Israel is ready to return at any moment to intensive combat and the operational plans are ready. During his speech, Netanyahu held up a photo of the Bibas family saying, “Israel must remember what we're fighting for.”

Chris Katulka: Well, here's my take. Netanyahu tapped into the deep remorse and anger of the Israeli people when he was speaking to the new IDF officers when he held up that photo of the Bibas family. What Hamas did to those innocent babies, taking them hostage on October 7th gives purpose to their service in the IDF. The officers were reminded that day that no Israeli family should suffer like the Bibas family has, and it was their duty to defend the Jewish state.

Chris Katulka: A few weeks ago, I had the privilege of leading a group of ministry leaders from the United States and Canada on a journey through Israel at the Friends of Israel. Our heart is to engage pastors, itinerant ministers, leaders in Christian ministries and Christian media with the land of the Bible. For each one of these leaders, it was their first time setting foot in Israel. This wasn't just a trip to walk in the footsteps of Jesus and other biblical figures. It was also an opportunity to stand with the Israeli people who are still reeling from the tragic events of October 7th. Well, one of my favorite places to stay in Israel is Kibbutz Ein Gev Holiday Resort. Nestled on the eastern shores of the Sea of Galilee, the views of this hotel are breathtaking. The water invites you in for a swim. The Sea of Galilee, that water, and the staff at Ein Gev feel like family.

Like many hotels along the Sea of Galilee, Ein Gev became a refuge for Israelis displaced by Hezbollah's attack in the north. Even now, nearly a year and a half later, the resort remains occupied by those waiting to return home after more than a year and a half of living in limbo. While we were there, we sat down with Adrian and her husband Hilton, a courageous couple whose home sits right on the Lebanese border. They've been living in Ein Gev for over a year, longing to return to the life they once knew. I want you to hear their story because their story is the story of so many Israelis still waiting for the day they can finally go home.

Adrian: Okay, so my name's Adrian. And Hilton, my husband, and myself, we made aliyah. That means we came to Israel about 36 years ago from South Africa and we arrived in Israel. We wanted to choose a kibbutz because that lifestyle appealed to us and we chose Ma’ayan Baruch, which is on the Lebanese border. I've since learned how close we are to the Lebanese border, 500 meters. Anyway, we've been living on Ma’ayan Baruch for many, many years. We came with two children and we had a third child born in Israel. And over the years there have been, I'll call them “mini-wars” with our neighbors across the border. I'm referring to Lebanon and they've been skirmishes and we've had to spend many a night sleeping in the bomb shelters. But this time, as you all know, on the 7th of October what happened down south, there was great fear that the same thing would be repeated up north and that we would be attacked by Lebanon the very next day. So we immediately left the kibbutz on the 8th of October, which was a Sunday, and we went to good friends of ours who lived near Tzvat. At that stage Tzvat was quiet. We then traveled down south, not to the Gazan border, but to our married daughter and stayed with her for a few days.

And then we heard that there was an official evacuation of all the members of the kibbutzim and the nearest city to us, which is Kiryat Shmona. So we then went to a hotel, which is just up the road from here, 10 minutes away called Kinar Hotel, also overlooking the lake, the Sea of Galilee and Lake Kinneret. And our daughter-in-law was here with her children, our grandchildren, and we wanted to follow and be with them because our son was guarding on the kibbutz. We have two sons and both of them were caught up to be what's called in Hebrew, Kitat Konenut. They're the immediate responders if anything would go wrong. The rockets from Lebanon, I'm sure you all know, never stopped falling. Fortunately, only one rocket fell on our Kibbutz. And the unfortunate thing is it damaged our son's house and the damage has not yet been repaired. Our house is still standing and we then came to Ein Gev hotel and it's ironical to say, but it's like home. It feels like home. The care and the love that the staff provide us with is unbelievable.

Chris Katulka: I asked Adrian about the displaced Israelis from her hometown and how her family can afford to live in a hotel for so long and her desire to go home. Take a listen.

Adrian: Our kibbutz, there are about I think 20 people our age and younger families. The younger families have, after a couple of months, I think it was after the school year ended, the last school year, which ended in June, the young families decided that living in a hotel room, no matter which hotel it was, even the Hilton with six stars, could not accommodate a family of five. So many, many young families have found alternative accommodation, renting apartments, renting flats, and they've moved all over. We’re all dispersed. We are a dispersed community. I'm talking about… the government, the state is paying for all the evacuees to stay in the hotels. It's lower stress for us. But on the other hand, it might be wonderful staying in a hotel, but we you've been here for a year and four months, five months, we just long to go home and I long to be in my kitchen again and cook again and bake brownies for my children and grandchildren. During the war, we did go up from time to time at great risk. We went home just to see how things were and it was always very, very stressful going up there. The roads, we never knew if a rocket would fall and hit our car and we would just go into the house to get the necessities. Change of winter to summer, summer back to winter clothing. But we never ever stayed more than a few hours

Chris Katulka: During our conversation, I reminded our ministry leaders that war for us in North America is always something on the other side of the world, but for Israelis, they're only a short drive from the conflict. For Adrian and Hilton, they are not but hours drive from their home. And for many of the hostages' families, they're only a few miles from their loved ones being held captive in Gaza. Adrian shares her thoughts about being so close to the conflict.

Adrian: Well, it's exactly as you describe it. I mean, during the war we were an hour away from home and here we were in our safe little bubble. We hardly heard any rockets and the moment we would go home, I mentioned earlier that we did visit during the war a couple of times and we would hear “boom,” and we realized how close we are, how our real home is so close to the border. So here we were very insulated and I mean there were attacks coming across from Yemen and from Syria and from Iran, but by and large we were really safe and we felt very secure here and the distance was an hour away. And to join the press to bring home all the hostages, being glued to our TV on and off, just… it's a miracle that they come home and every time we see them get out of the Hamas van and into the Red Cross van, the tears don't stop pouring. And I think we're going to have a lot of sad news as well, but everybody has to come home and that's where our prayers are as well.

Chris Katulka: Adrian takes her final moments with us to share her heart for those who have been praying for Israel and the Jewish people.

Adrian: First of all, I just want to thank you all for your love and support and the fact that you are in Israel. And I find it so moving that both Jews and non-Jews visit Israel and come and support us during these very trying times. And I know we have family all over the world and some of them are very reluctant to come during these trying times. So from the bottom of my heart, I want to thank all of you for coming and supporting and giving us this love and just continue praying for peace in Israel and that we'll all be returning home soon and continuing with a normal life.

Chris Katulka: We're going to take a quick break and when we return, we're going to hear from Shimrit. Shimrit is the marketing director for Kibbutz Ein Gev Holiday Resort. She's going to share about her October 7th experience and the successes and challenges Hamas and Hezbollah's War on Israel created for her hotel. Stick around.

Steve Conover: Have you ever wondered why God chose the Jewish people to bring his plan of redemption to the world and why after all these years they're back in their ancient homeland? From former executive director of the Friends of Israel, Elwood McQuaid, we're pleased to offer our popular book, It is No Dream. It Is No Dream covers the entire biblical and prophetic program throughout history for the Jewish people, complete with historical photos and maps. You'll see it's nothing short of a miracle that the Jewish people exist today. To purchase your copy of It Is No Dream, visit us at foiradio.org. That's foiradio.org. We'll put a link on our homepage.

Chris Katulka: Welcome back everyone. I just returned from Israel a few weeks ago and we stayed at my favorite hotel on the Sea of Galilee, Kibbutz Ein Gev. While we were there, I sat down with Shimrit. She's the marketing director for Kibbutz Ein Gev Holiday Resort. She's going to share about her October 7th experience and her connection to the Bibas family who were taken hostage by Hamas.

Shimrit: Yeah, I live on the kibbutz. I’m married to… my husband was born in the kibbutz. His parents are still living in the kibbutz, but I wasn't born here. I was born in the south of Israel in a town called Sderot. I just want to tell a little bit about my experience from October 7th. So for me, October 7th was as for every Israeli, it touched every one of us. So for me, I was in both places in one time. My heart was in the south, my friends and my family and everyone around the Gaza area and I was here. And when the missiles started, six and a half in the morning I was awake because I have the alarm from Sderot. And I was starting to worry. And after one hour we realized that this is not a usual situation and it's going to be very serious. So I came here, eight o'clock in the morning and starting to deal with the group that we had.

It's supposed to come at the same day in the evening. I had a group in Munich, which already check in their luggage in the airport in Munich, and we connected with the agents to tell them not to go on the plane, just stay in Munich. The luggage will be okay, but don't come here because we don't know yet what is going to be. So I came here and the first three hours I was just here working with groups in Israel that just, I had a group here that we didn't want them to go to another place because we felt here in Ein Gev that this is a safe zone. We always felt safe here. So we told them to stay here, we will have some room for them. And then there was another group that was in Jerusalem and they were starting to be worried. We told them to come here so we can host them here so they can feel safe until they have flight home. So in the first three hours I was around here trying to do the best to understand the situation, to take care of our guests here, that's supposed to come, that was here around Israel and also see what was going on in the road. There were some Hamas terrorists going around in the town with some (inaudible). Told my parents to stay at home, talking to my aunts, my families. So it was both ways.

My sister, she came to the holiday, it was a Sukkot holiday. She came to stay with me in the kibbutz and she realized from the telegram that her friends from the kibbutz were kidnapped. Her friends are the Bibas family.

Chris Katulka: Really?

Shimrit: Her husband is from the same kibbutz of Yarden Bibas. And they just saw on the telegram that they were kidnapped. And another friend was calling my sister and told her that she didn't call, she was a WhatsApp texting that her husband went to defend their kibbutz in Kfar Aza and he was shot and he's wounded and he needs help. And that she wrote in the WhatsApp to everyone, whoever, if someone can get help, if someone can call the Army to come. It was a very, very intense day.

Chris Katulka: Next Shimrit talks about October 8th, the day after the Hamas attack and the decisions that the leadership of the hotel made to help those who were evacuated from their homes.

Shimrit: I was like here and in the kibbutz and with the family and everything was mixed up. And October 8th we were here. All the staff decided to open our resort free of charge for one week to every Israeli that wants to come from the north border, from the south border, whoever didn't feel safe in their heart to come here, it was a safe zone and we'll host them with no charge. We were booked with the many incoming groups, but the group, we know that they didn't supposed to come and everything was changing. So we decided, please come and we'll see what's going on. We didn't have even one room left. It was full in a few hours. It was just spreading around the news and it was full. And I was getting phoned to my cell alarm, my private cell alarm until midnight. “We can come please.” “I'm a family.” “I'm pregnant.” I talked to a pregnant woman on October 8th that asked to come here. She couldn't come the same day. She asked to reserve a room for her for the next day and she touched my heart, so I reserved the room. They came here, they stayed here a few months. She had her baby here. And yes, we are really in good connection now. And they're still here until now. One in four months, one year and four months.

Chris Katulka: I want you to think about that. An Israeli baby was born not long after the war started, and that baby soon to be a toddler has never spent a day at home. Next Shimrit shares about getting her family out of danger from their home near Gaza and what it's been like turning a hotel normally used by tourists and those Israelis on vacation into a refuge for displaced Israelis.

Shimrit: For me to be busy, it was the best thing I could do for myself. So I was begging my parents to come here on October 7th, they said they are not going out of their house. And October 8th in the morning, I talked to them trying to convince them to come and they were like, “Maybe tomorrow we'll come, we'll see what will be going on.” And then one hour later, one missile hit the house of my aunt. So I told them, take my aunt and the two of you, and please come here by the car. If you're not coming, I'm coming to take you so you should better go in the car and come here. Otherwise I'm on my way to your place. And they did. They came here on October 8th in the afternoon and they stayed here five weeks. We didn't know how to handle the guests that came here. They weren’t regular guests, they were refugees, and it's been different to talk to them, to take care of them. We need the dining room to be able to feed them for three meals a day and to take care of all their needs. So I was busy with this all the time.

Chris Katulka: When we landed in Israel, our friend and tour guide, Tito Andojar shared with our ministry leaders that Hamas' goal is to show the world that they've won, that they defeated Israel. But Israelis know that they've lost. That they've lost everything as a result of October 7th. I asked Shimrit what she thought about Tito's statement and this is what she had to say.

Shimrit: I totally agree with that. And we say a lot of times here in Israel that we (speaks in Hebrew)  take care about the life, not about the death. So every loss of October 7th, we lose everything. We already lost. We lost so many friends, so many family. I think there is not even one Israeli that don't know someone from October 7th that was hurt, killed, kidnapped, that was damaged by this situation. We really don't feel that we want to continue the work. We are looking for peace, for peace in this area. I have nothing against the people of Gaza. I just want peace in this area. I want them to live in peace, in prosperity. I want for them to have a good life as much as I want for us to have a good life. I think it'll work the best if everyone will realize this is the situation and to make the best of it. We are neighbors. We'll be like this forever. They are not going anywhere. We are not going to any other place. So we need to live together.

Chris Katulka: Shimrit manages thousands of guests a year who come from all over the world to experience Israel. She shares about the love and support she has felt from people since the war started and her call for you to come visit Israel.

Shimrit: We feel it. We feel it all the time. And for me as a marketing manager, I'm in touch with a lot of agents for a tour leader, a lot of people from abroad, and we are getting a lot of support and we feel the love of the people to Israel. And I speak today only because I wanted to tell to the podcast listeners that they're welcome, they're welcome to Israel. I feel, I feel it's safe to be here. And you are welcome to the North of Israel to Eig Gev. It's a beautiful place. We have a beautiful country with a beautiful people, and you are all welcome to come to Israel.

Chris Katulka: I want to thank Adrian, Hilton, Shimrit and Kibbutz Ein Gev Holiday Resort for their kindness and hospitality to share with us how they have endured life since October 7th and how they are helping one another get through this difficult time. Please remember to pray for Israel and the Jewish people.

Steve Conover: Thanks for joining us for today's episode of The Friends of Israel Today. In light of what you heard in today's episode, continue to pray for the peace of Jerusalem. Chris, where are we headed next week?

Chris Katulka: Yeah, we've got a three week series coming up on what helped shape the modern Middle East that we see today. This wasn't something that happened overnight, it's something that's been developing over the course of more than a hundred years. So we're going to take a look at the history of how the modern Middle East is shaped today.

Steve Conover: Join us then. As mentioned, our web address is foiradio.org. Again, that's foiradio.org. Our mailing address is FOI Radio PO Box 914, Bellmawr, New Jersey 08099. Again, that's FOI Radio PO Box 914, Bellmawr, New Jersey 08099. You can call our listener line. That number is 888-343-6940. Again, that's 888-343-6940. Our host and teacher is Chris Katulka. Today's program was engineered by Bob Beebe. Edited by Jeremy Strong, who also composed and performs our theme music. Lisa Small is our executive producer. Sarah Fern is our associate producer. And I'm Steve Conover, executive director of The Friends of Israel. The Friends of Israel Today is a production of The Friends of Israel Gospel Ministry. Passion for God's Word. Compassion for God's Chosen People.