‘Everything became very tangible,’ Passages CEO Scott Phillips said of the group’s visit to the ravaged communities.
A team of 25 Americans sent by Passages, a pro-Israel organization that facilitates group visits to the Holy Land for young Christians, recently visited two Israeli communities and personally witnessed the destruction that Hamas inflicted on October 7.
When Passages CEO Scott Phillips and his team visited Kfar Aza, a kibbutz located about a mile away from the Gaza border, they first saw empty homes in one area that looked relatively untouched. Then a guide led them into a separate section of the kibbutz, where young adults once lived after they moved out of their parents’ houses. In this part, burned residences and posters of the deceased and kidnapped community members could be seen.
“Everything became very tangible, as we saw where these people lived and saw the complete and utter devastation and destruction of this section of the kibbutz,” Phillips told National Review, noting this area was the “most impacted” by the Hamas attack on Kfar Aza.
When speaking with the survivors, Phillips said they kept telling him that Israel is “frozen in October 7” because its people can’t “move on or heal as long as there’s still hostages in Gaza.” About 100 living hostages remain in Hamas captivity, according to the latest estimates.
While on a five-day visit to Israel in late January, Passages donated a total of $500,000 to Kfar Aza and Netiv Ha’asara. The Christian delegation distributed the charitable donation equally between both communities to help their members cope with the trauma of the murder of their neighbors, friends, and family members. The money will be used for psychological counseling for young people, vocational training for young adults, and memorial project/rebuilding efforts.
Passages raised a total of $600,000 in a charity drive to support Israel after October 7. The remaining funds will be set aside to help other survivors recover from the terrorist attack, said a Passages spokesperson.
The visiting group gave the $500,000 donation during its trip from January 19-23, more than three months after Hamas terrorists massacred approximately 1,200 Israelis and abducted some 240 hostages.
Since its founding in 2016, Passages has brought about 11,000 Christian students to Israel and formed longstanding relationships with the people living in Kfar Aza and Netiv Ha’asara.
Sky Weston, a graduate of Missouri Baptist University who first went on a Passages trip to Israel in 2018, said it was sobering to revisit both communities after the attacks.
“I’ve been to that community before in good times when it was beautiful, and they had so much pride in their community and so much strength,” she told National Review. “It was extremely difficult to hear the flip side of just the destruction and the hardship that they’ve gone through since October 7.”
More than 60 people were murdered at Kfar Aza that day, according to the New York Times. Netiv Ha’asara lost 22 people, the Jerusalem Post reported.
In addition to providing aid and witnessing the aftermath of the destruction themselves, Passages staffers, donors, and alumni listened to numerous stories from Israeli survivors.
Weston recounted a personal story from a tour guide, who told her how one of his son’s best friends was considered missing until it was confirmed he was killed by Hamas.
“Hearing from his own mouth a story of what his son and the boy’s family had to go through, dealing with not knowing where he was for so long, and going through such pain to just discover that he was murdered . . . was just unbelievable,” she said.
Weston added she was struck by the “spirit of the Israeli people” and their resilience, despite the unimaginable hardship and grief they’ve experienced.
“There’s such a sense of hope among the people so much so that they would come up to us and remind us, ‘Yes, it’s so hard to see all this stuff, but don’t stop believing and hoping that we will rise above this,’” she said.
The Passages team also visited the site of the Nova music festival in Re’im, where memorials of the 364 people murdered by Hamas stand. Additionally, the group participated in the 20th anniversary of the Knesset Christian Allies Caucus, an organization that forges ties between Israeli lawmakers and Christian leaders around the world.
Despite differences in religious beliefs, the Jewish people found solace in the 25 Christians who made the solidarity trip to Israel.
“They would hug us. They would cry on our shoulders and say, ‘It’s not obvious that you would be here with us right now. Thank you for your support,’” said Phillips. “Israel and the Jewish community globally need allies right now, and as Christians we are ready to stand as allies.”