NO VACUUM Kahana says that without the aid which includes educational funding radical Islamic groups would fill the vacuum and provide assistance

A n American-Israeli businessman and philanthropist behind an effort to provide food and medicine to Syrian civilians told Mishpacha that Israel recently allowed more aid to enter the war-torn country through the Golan Heights.

“The IDF doesn’t want extremists on its border and realizes that more humanitarian supplies will help prevent terrorism” said Moti Kahana founder of the American Jewish NGO Amaliah.

Kahana says that without the aid which includes educational funding radical Islamic groups would fill the vacuum and provide assistance.

Israel has been careful to limit its operations in Syria to air attacks against arms shipments to Hezbollah and retaliation for missile strikes. By allowing Amaliah to be the face of the aid operation Kahana says Israel acquires a degree of deniability.

At the moment Amaliah is the only organization carrying out such assistance through the Golan Heights with the first delivery in July. Amaliah also facilitates the bussing of women and children into Israel for medical treatment. He said the NGO covers the civilians’ medical expenses and pays the hospital bills.

Why aid Syrians? The hope is that those treated in Israeli hospitals will feel favorably toward Israel and promote good relations with the other side. “We are being good neighbors” Kahana said. “We could increase the number of buses going into Israel by five times if we had more financing” he said. “Our goal is to treat 5000 civilians who haven’t received medical treatment in five years.” Earlier this month the organization distributed over one ton of beef into Syria for the Muslim holiday of Eid al-Adha reaching 800 families in 14 villages in the vicinity of Quneitra.

In the early summer the IDF created a new unit to facilitate the aid transfers but Kahana counsels against Israel entering Syria directly. He says it’s better if an American NGO leads the operation. Still on a military level Israel coordinates with Russian military forces so that aid shipments are not targeted.

Long term Kahana has argued for the establishment of a buffer zone along the border area around Quneitra. So far he said that request is a “work in progress.”

The rebel forces in the Quineitra area include groups allied with the Western-backed Free Syrian Army as well as some fighters from the jihadist Jabhat Fateh al-Sham [Front for the Conquest of the Syria] which changed its name from the al-Qaida-linked Nusra Front. Islamic State is not a player near Israel’s border area. Syrian government forces are stationed in the Druze town of Hader a regime stronghold. Despite the multiplicity of forces near Quneitra the actual threat to Israel is now minimal limited to occasional rocket spillover and less frequent Hezbollah operations.