JERUSALEM — Yael Eckstein, president and CEO of the International Fellowship of Christians and Jews (The Fellowship), joined Mike Huckabee live on his show to discuss the situation in Ukraine. She highlighted the Fellowship’s efforts to evacuate Ukrainian Jews, bring them Israel, and other ways her organization is saving precious lives.
When asked to describe what she and her staff have seen unfold in Ukraine, Eckstein put it simply: “It’s heartbreaking.”
“I think for anyone who’s been following what’s been happening in Ukraine,” Eckstein added, “you know the level of pain and mourning. There’s almost no one who hasn’t lost a family member.”
Eckstein noted that for many Holocaust survivors still in Ukraine, “This is the second time in their life that they’ve seen their country try to be destroyed, and people needlessly killed.”
“I was in Kiev four days before the invasion,” Eckstein told Huckabee, highlighting that The Fellowship was prepared for the worst even before the war began.
When the bombs first began to fall, Eckstein said, “The airspace was closed, and the airport in Moldova was closed.” But given how desperate Jewish families were to escape Ukraine and get to Israel, Eckstein went on to tell Huckabee, “We got special humanitarian permission to fly chartered flights into the Moldova airport where they opened just for our flights. We packed these airplanes with 15 tons each of humanitarian aid that would be sent into Ukraine, unloaded the humanitarian aid, loaded the flights with Jewish immigrants to Israel, flew them home to Israel, and then turned around and did the exact same thing.”
She added that it’s an honor to be providing that level of aid to those in need, and also highlighted The Fellowship’s close partnership with the Israeli government. “The Israeli government comes to The Fellowship asking us to distribute their aid of different basic food items, medicine, and emergency support to the poorest populations of Israel.”
Huckabee concluded by celebrating the way Yael and The Fellowship are saving lives, telling listeners, “I wouldn’t be encouraging you to give if I hadn’t witnessed with my own eyes the great work that they do.”
To watch the full interview of Eckstein discussing The Fellowship’s efforts in Ukraine, click here.
