Responding to Emergencies

To ensure that NIF is able to respond rapidly to the needs of the moment, we have an Emergency Response Pool. This allows us to support emergency needs and leverage opportunities for supporting those most in need as they arise. This Emergency Response Pool has allowed NIF to provide humanitarian aid to vulnerable members of Israeli society when they need it most. This emergency funding goes towards a mix of new organisations and existing organisations we already support, who are doing additional emergency work.

Please note grants amount listed below are only for emergency grants. Some of the below organisations receive additional core funding. To see a full breakdown of funding click here.

Projects we support:

Hechalutz – Drachim Education Center

NIF support for Hechalutz was part of our Emergency Fundraising in the wake of the attacks on October 7 2023. This project works with communities and families who were affected by the horrific events, many of whom lost their loved ones, had their homes destroyed, and had been living in temporary housing facilities for several weeks. These families and communities need emotional and moral support, alternative educational system for their children, and extensive assistance from volunteers.

Hechalutz organises and operates initiatives to assist these communities in their various immediate needs, including the distribution of food and supplies, handling bureaucracy, babysitting, and contacting external support. They also coordinate volunteers to actively engage with the children in the communities on a daily basis, providing a diverse range of activities such as school lessons, creative workshops, sports activities, games, and group sessions for processing trauma. Oversight and support for these activities are provided by a social worker from the organisation.

Emergency Grants:

2023 – $3,000

Mosdot Chinuch V'Tarboot Of Brit Ha'Tenua Ha'Kibbutzit

NIF support for the Kibbutz Movement was part of our Emergency Fundraising in the wake of the attacks on October 7 2023, providing immediate support for Western Negev Kibbutzim. Members of these kibbutzim were forced to evacuate from their homes and have undergone extensive trauma. They have no clear future for the rebuilding of the kibbutz and when they can return to the physical kibbutzim. This grant funds and supports the effort to rebuild routine life for the families and the communities that are now forced to make a home and a community for themselves in a most uncertain and vague future. This includes:

Acute trauma counselling for adults, children and youth
Providing any aid necessary to rebuild and recover daily routines for the evacuees and the communities
To alleviate trauma through innovative communal tools and frames
Re-building communities and social structures to support mental health healing

Emergency Grants:

2023 – $8,045

The Families’ HQ To Return The Missing And Kidnapped

The Families' HQ is a volunteer organisation providing assistance to families of those who were kidnapped and taken to Gaza during the assault on October 7 2023. NIF supports The Families' HQ work in supporting the families of those who were kidnapped and taken to Gaza during the brutal assault on Israel on October 7, who include children, women, the elderly, and the infirm. These families are experiencing serious distress and are suffering from the trauma of the events of October 7, many of whom are in need of medical and psychological support while their loved ones are still missing and/or kidnapped. NIF's support funds the crucial humanitarian support that the families are in need of. This includes:

Psychological support for distressed families
Medical supplies and support for the supplies
Basic supplies for families of kidnapped people whose lives have been upended by the crisis

Emergency Grants:

2023 – $10,000

Gisha – Center For The Legal Protection Of Freedom Of Movement

Gisha's core work is to help residents of Gaza travel for crucial medical care, education and professional advancement. In the wake of the October 7 attacks, Gisha expanded their work to provide legal representation for Gazans trapped in Israel after 7th October.

Emergency Grants:

2023 – $25,000

Elifelet

Elifelet supports the children of asylum seekers through education and the distribution of food and other humanitarian aid. The war in Gaza placed a large strain on resources across Israel, and limited their general capacity to assist asylum seekers, while more and more families are seeking additional support. This emergency grant is to assist the running of Elifelet's regular programs while also allowing the organisation to expand the pools of families they support.

Emergency Grants:

2023 – $9,955

Yesh Din

By representing Palestinians who are victims of settler violence and who have had land confiscated by settlements, Yesh Din’s actions challenge the structural violations of human rights in the Occupied Palestinian Territories. The rapid increase of settler violence in the West Bank since the start of the war in Gaza, on the back of 2023 being the most deadly year for West Bank settler attacks, means it’s even more crucial to be supporting their work. This emergency grant allows Yesh Din to expand their crucial litigation work.

Emergency Grants:

2023 – $10,000

Regional Council Of Unrecognised Villages

Seven of the eight most impoverished local authorities in Israel are Bedouin; the residents of the unrecognized villages are in even worse economic straits. The current war has struck them a double blow. The first relates to their physical safety. They live in shacks with no safe rooms—but the state refuses to provide them with mobile safe rooms. To make matters worse, most of the villages are listed as “open space” for the Iron Dome system, which leaves the residents more exposed to rocket strikes. This is what happened on Saturday when six of them were killed by direct hits. The second blow to these people is economic. Even in normal times their income leaves them on the brink of starvation; but now, when people are afraid to step outside and grocery store shelves empty rapidly, tens of thousands of residents of the unrecognised villages are short of basic foodstuffs.

The committee of the unrecognised villages in the Negev will act rapidly to provide basic humanitarian needs of the residence of the unrecognised villages:

Food baskets: The baskets will reach at least ten percent of the households in the unrecognized villages and provide an immediate answer to the current food shortages
Water tanks: During the last decade, as the result of rulings by the High Court of Justice, most homes in the unrecognized villages have been hooked up to the water network—but not all of them. The lack of protection against rocket strikes is liable to interrupt the water supply to thousands of families for at least a few days, because, unlike the situation in planned localities, where the pipes are underground, a large proportion of the water infrastructure in these villages is aboveground. This is why there is a need for tanks in which water can be stored for emergencies.
Mobile safe rooms: Reports from the field indicate that when rockets are fired at Israel, village children and adults hide under beds or behind sand piles, or find some other shelter whose common denominator is that they are useless in the event of a direct or close hit. The best solution would be for the government to approve the construction of safe rooms in the villages. As long as this is not possible, due to the residents’ inability to cover the cost, the state’s adamant refusal to permit any construction in the villages, funding constraints, and the urgency of the matter, the quickest and most effective way to provide real protection is to station mobile safe rooms near the most vulnerable villagers.
First-aid kits: For ambulances, access to the unrecognised villages is slow and difficult, because of the bad roads, full of stones and rocks, as well as navigational problems. As a result, this group needs immediate care equipment and supplies. The residents cannot be expected to purchase first-aid kits themselves, even when things are quiet, because of their penury and need to focus on the most basic items for survival.

This emergency grant will cover the costs of providing residents of unrecognised villages with these essentials for survival during the war.

Emergency Grants:

2023 – $35,000

Tzedek Centres

After October 7, Hashomer Hatzair & Tzedek Centres switched to an emergency mode of operation and began to act in a number of ways:

Hosting Families and Communities in Givat Haviva: Opening the Givat Haviva hostel for hosting entire families and communities who have relocated from the South and the Gaza envelope region. A volunteer system on-site that assists with various needs, provides activities for children, and supports families.
Providing assistance in Eilat, Ein Gedi and Givat Olga to the main affected communities: The Kibbutzim of Eshkol and Hof Ashkelon regional councils, where the Hashomer Hatzair movement works regularly: Nir Oz, Nirim, Nir Itzhak, Magen, Holit, Yad Mordechai, Zikim and Carmia. These communities that have been evicted to Eilat, Ein Gedi and Givat Olga, have suffered significant losses and are deeply concerned about the future of their loved ones at the hands of Hamas.
Assistance with volunteer transportation and the provision of basic needs (food, clothing, etc.).
Family Assistance and Hosting System: A coordination centre between private hosts from across the country and families displaced from the South and the Gaza Envelope region.
Operation of a central website and a telephone hotline: A designated team that gathers information, coordinates between stakeholders, recruits volunteers, and provides equipment.

This emergency grant will allow Tzedek Centres to continue providing humanitarian aid to communities and families to the affected communities in the south, namely through accommodation and supply of basic needs.

Emergency Grants:

2023 – $35,000

Physicians For Human Rights

Since the war in Gaza began, Physicians for Human Rights Israel (PHRI) are focusing on:

Emergency Medical Care for Evacuated Israeli Civilians: PHRI has received numerous requests to deliver urgent medical aid to Israeli civilians from the Gaza envelope communities, who have been evacuated to hotels across Israel. Currently, their focus is on residents of Kibbutz Be'eri and other affected communities in the Dead Sea area, but they have also worked in Eilat and Tel Aviv. A dedicated team comprising a volunteer family doctor, a volunteer nurse, and two PHRI staff members is operating a makeshift clinic, offering vital medication and equipment to those in need, as well as emotional support.
Assistance to Displaced Thai Work Migrants: PHRI extended their support to Thai work migrants who were evacuated from the South and transferred to five locations around Israel. Alongside providing personal hygiene products, they have sent medical teams to conduct check-ups and provide necessary medical treatment. They are in touch with a grassroots initiative that is providing this group with wraparound services and are helping coordinate the response to their needs.
Future Humanitarian Aid Efforts: Once the conflict subsides and access to Gaza is permitted, PHRI is committed to extending further humanitarian aid through urgent deliveries of medical equipment and medication. They aim to provide essential medical supplies and expertise to alleviate suffering and support the recovery and rebuilding process, as they always do following rounds of violence.

In these trying times, PHRI remains committed to upholding human rights, providing essential medical care, and advocating for the well-being of all affected individuals. They aim to alleviate suffering and promote a just and compassionate response to this crisis for all impacted civilians.

Emergency Grants:

2023 – $35,000

Hotline For Refugees And Migrants - Israel

This emergency grant to Hotline for Refugees and Migrants (HRM) to to temporarily expand the Hotline's legal department following the eruption of violence outside the Eritrean embassy on September 2. There, supporters and opponents of Eritrea's government clashed, with policing firing stun grenades, rubber bullets, and even live ammunition into the crowd. Over 150 people were injured. Fifty asylum-seekers were placed in administrative detention as suspects; right-wing politicians have called for the deportation of those involved. Administrative detention does not have a time limit and does not require the state to provide detainees with legal representation. This grant will support the Hotline's work to provide legal resources to those detained.

It is important to note that HRM is the only NGO in Israel that monitors migration detention centres, visiting detainees, and monitoring protocols. Additionally, HRM’s legal department carries expertise in pursuing impact litigation to leverage policy change. As the situation develops HRM is uniquely positioned to argue a case on behalf of the entire group of detainees or some portion thereof.

Emergency Grants:

2023 – $8,000

Hashomer Hatzair (Project for Refugees in Ukraine and Poland)

In 2022 we funded an emergency program for refugees on the ground in Ukraine and Poland. You can read more about the project here.

Emergency Grants:

2022 – $22,522

Givat Haviva: Jewish-Arab Center For Peace

This emergency grant to Givat Haviva funded crisis accommodation of 15 families in Ashkelon fleeing rockets being fired into Southern Israel, during the May 2021 escalation of violence.

Emergency Grants:

2021 – $10,250

Haqel: Jews And Arabs In Defense Of Human Rights

Haqel provides legal counsel to over 5,000 beneficiaries and tens of villages in the South Hebron Hills. The organisation’s strategic litigation work involves 3 levels of action: Tackling violations at the grassroots level, in close cooperation with residents, by submitting real-time reports to the DCO, police and army, including photographic and video footage; submission of urgent letters and appeals to the Attorney General, the head of the CA and coordinating bodies responsible for civil and security operations in the oPt; coordination with international and local activists, CSOs, the press and diplomats. In addition to Haqel’s extremely demanding regular litigation case load, the emergency service available to all Palestinian communities and residents in the South Hebron Hills to deal with urgent emergency cases, requires additional resources.

Emergency Grants:

2021 – $12,948

Hotline For Refugees And Migrants - Israel

The Hotline for Refugees and Migrants is Israel’s premier legal rights and advocacy organisation for refugees, people seeking asylum and migrant workers in Israel. Their work has been instrumental in a number of significant gains for those communities over the last ten years. This emergency grant being made is to deal with the COVID-19 crisis and how it is playing out in the refugee community.

Emergency Grants:

2020 – $15,000

ASSAF

ASSAF provides humanitarian aid and social work services to people seeking asylum and refugees in Israel. Our funding began in early 2020 as it became clear that the COVID-19 crisis, which left many people seeking asylum without employment due to the widespread lockdown, would disproportionately affect this community. This emergency grant allows ASSAF to hire an asylum seeker to work as a translator and coordinator in their office to understand needs in the community, triage requests and to purchase and distribute humanitarian aid (eg food, nappies, toiletries, etc).

Emergency Grants:

2020 – $12,605

Physicians For Human Rights

The way the Covid-19 crisis spread through Israel amplified NIF’s unique role as a guarantor of equality and the protection of those most in need. This emergency grant to PHRI will help provide emergency medical assistance to refugees and people seeking asylum in Israel who don’t have access to national insurance healthcare. Equality and inclusion are not afterthoughts during a public health crisis. That is especially the case during times like these: inequality becomes even more dire and dangerous when people on the margins of society are the most at-risk.

Emergency Grants:

2020 – $10,000