Ellie Cotlar

Ellie Cotlar went on a 10-day trip to Israel, working for the organizations Lev Achad, Leket, Meir Panim, Citizen’s Kitchen, and Unit 107 in agriculture. She helped with meal prep, agriculture work, sorted donations for soldiers, and led art projects with evacuees. As resources across Israel are stretched, she also volunteered with a school in Jaffa for underserved children.

Cotlar says the support of Israelis is so meaningful.

“I was thanked many times over for coming to Israel to volunteer by fellow Israeli volunteers, waiters, and cab drivers,” she said. “The support means so much- people need to know that the world cares. The volunteer work was all meaningful as everyone desperately needs help.”

She added that the farm work today is primarily operated by volunteers, as much of the IDF and evacuees' food is prepared by volunteers, and volunteers work to sort critical supplies for soldiers. The farms near the Gaza border especially need help.

Aside from her experience volunteering, she learned first-hand what being in a state at war was really like. She remembers hearing sirens warning of a rocket attack on New Year’s Eve, seeing the Ben Gurion airport lined with posters of hostages, and an exhibit dedicated to the Nova Festival massacre at the Tel Aviv expo center.

“At one point I felt like I couldn’t breathe and had to leave,” she said, in reference to the Nova Festival exhibit. “There is an extreme heaviness and sadness throughout the country.”

Cotlar recalls hearing the sound of a helicopter on her first night. Her friend told her it was the sound of a medical helicopter heading to Gaza which meant that an Israeli soldier(s) had been seriously injured or killed. She said at 6 p.m. every day, citizens stop what they are doing to check to see who had been killed that day in the war.

Everyone is affected by the war in one or more ways, and everyone knows someone fighting in the war. Many people are left to care for their kids alone, people are stepping up to help families, volunteering, and there are thousands of evacuees staying in hotels. Many also have friends or family who were murdered and/or kidnapped, she said.

During her trip, Cotlar remembers Israelis talking about being scared to move to the United States because of all the antisemitism they see on social media. They even questioned her if what they saw was as bad as it looks.

Cotlar says her experience helped her see with her own eyes what is really happening.

“Hamas’s ‘Iron Dome’ is weaponizing civilian deaths, capitalizing on the world’s antisemitism and lack of critical thinking to dehumanize Jews,” she said. “Those against Israel can aid Hamas with donations, advocate for a genocide against the Jews with calls for a one-sided ceasefire, but we know that we will prevail. Am Yisrael Chai.”